Adjustment Phase
by Energybeing
Summary: When Willow joins the SGC, you might think they'd ease her in a little. But no, she's pushed into the deep end with an Atanik bracelet. And it's not until after that that things start getting really strange. Sequel to "The Rings of Hell".
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: this is a sequel to my earlier story "The rings of Hell". You will need to have read it in order to know what's going on, because this story continues directly from the last chapter of that story.

Set mid-season 4 for Buffy, early season 4 for Stargate.

I don't own either the Buffy or the Stargate franchise, and this will continue to be the case throughout the story. So don't sue me.

~*~

Sam turned to Daniel incredulously. The girl was only 18, barely out of high-school! They had no business uprooting some girl from her hometown and dragging her off to another state entirely, and involve her in missions that could affect the fate of the galaxy. "Daniel..."

"Yes Sam?" he answered mildly, which Sam knew meant that he would stick with this decision until kingdom come.

"Willow's too young, she doesn't have the experience -"

Daniel interrupted her "She's been battling demons and whatnot every night for the last three years or so, and you told me yourself that you wanted to recruit her when she left college."

Willow, who saw her chance at visiting other planets and helping the galaxy as a whole, rather than just Earth, slipping away, brightened up at that. "Did you really, Sam? Thanks!"

Sam was fighting a losing battle here, and she knew it, so she appealed to Jack and Teal'c "Come on guys, back me up here! Can't you see she's too young? She'd be a liability."

Teal'c answered first "On Chulak, we do not coddle our youths as do the Taur'i. If she wishes to do battle against the enemy, it is not for us to decide that she does not." Sam saw she'd lost that one, Jaffa nature being so different from her own.

"Sam, she can do magic! Magic! Tell me you don't see the possibilities in that. Hah, she could give Walter a run for his money." Jack replied. It looked like all of them were against her on this one.

"Wait, Walter? He can do magic?" Sam asked, bemused.

"Haven't you seen his card tricks?" Jack replied triumphantly. Xander snorted with laughter, and offered Jack a hi-five. Jack stared at it for a moment, before clapping it enthusiastically.

Well, it looked like it was up to Sam to convince her friends that Willow shouldn't go. Looking at Willow's face, Sam suspected they had little chance of success.

Buffy went first "Look, Will, I can understand why you'd want to go - hey, I've been there too, remember? - but I don't think that going off and fighting for the Airforce is you. You've always hated the violence, been all about researching and magic. But you'll be going and fighting on other planets, Will, and I just don't think you should."

"Buffy, thanks, but there's still researching to do. And I'm not afraid of fighting if it needs to be done. I've done it here, and I've nearly died here. I think it's about time I nearly die somewhere else." Willow said.

"Well, if it's nearly dying you want, I should tell you that we've all died at one time or another." said Daniel, wryly.

"See, Buffy, they've got an even worse track record than you have." Willow said.

Xander went next. "Will, I don't think you should go. You're our rock - even the Mayor knew that - and I think that, without you we'll fly apart, or go crazy, or die, or something. We need you, Will."

"You don't. You really don't. I'm just here for moral support, you don't need me for research, for fighting, or even for bringing donuts. But out there, there are countless slaves and oppressed people that do need my help. So I'm going to help them." Willow said.

"I think you should go." said Anya bluntly, and refused to say anything more on the matter. Willow didn't know what to say to that, but that didn't matter because Anya's views didn't matter to her much anyway.

"Willow, please don't leave me with these people. I enjoy occasionally having an intelligent conversation on an intelligent topic that's not overfilled with slang." said Giles. Willow knew that, for the Englishman, that was as close to expressing his emotions as he was going to get.

"Hey, G-man, you can always use the telephone, if it doesn't give you the wig." she joked in a bad imitation of Xander's voice. Unsurprisingly, she got no laughs.

Willow continued "So, anyway guys, I'll see you sometime. I'll call you." and SG-1 filed out of Giles' home, followed by what might be the SGC newest and youngest member.

~*~

General George Hammond looked over the table at the young, fidgeting redhead. Colonel O'Neill had just given his debrief, and Hammond, who was used to hearing reports that sounded more like a sci-fi novel than anything else, was surprised at how much it sounded like fiction.

Of course, he was already aware of the work the Demon Research Initiative was doing in Sunnydale, although he didn't approve, and he knew that there were things that were often difficult to explain.

Like demons. Or aliens, for that matter, which, even though he saw Teal'c nearly every day never failed to amaze him. But magic, really? Even those crackpots at the DRI hadn't hypothesized that such a thing existed.

Yet here he was, being told that this young slip of a woman before him could do what he'd only ever considered in the realm of fiction.

"Young lady" he said, his southern manners and strong Texan accent more prominent that usual "would you mind giving us a demonstration?"

Willow had more or less expected that - she'd thought it would be something of an entrance test - and she hoped her nerves wouldn't interfere with the spell she'd done so many times before. She concentrated, focusing on the pencil in front of her, willing it to levitate.

It did so. Hammond was distinctly unimpressed - he'd heard from off-world teams of telekinetic races before, and he told her so. He wanted to see something that could only be explained by magic.

Which meant Willow had to do a spell substantially more difficult than those she normally intended. Fortunately, she'd already entered the blissful calm that always followed a spell, and she was certain she could do it.

She gently lowered the pencil back to the table, stared at it some more, and said "_Anima_" Did Hammond imagine it, or did her voice take on a slightly deep, booming quality? No matter, because a transparent version if the pencil now stood next to it. Willow reached over, and crushed the transparent replica, her fingers passing through it like smoke.

The real pencil turned to dust. "It doesn't work on living objects, and it's much more difficult when the object is larger." Willow said, apologetically - she always returned to the shy schoolgirl she had been before meeting Buffy (and rather a long time afterwards too) when she was in circumstances like these.

Well, thought Hammond, it would take some more paperwork, pulling some strings, but... "Welcome to the SGC!" he said, reaching his hand across the table.

Willow shook it, smiling radiantly.


	2. Chapter 2

As Willow was led through her tour of the base, she was in awe at the sheer amount of room in the SGC. She'd previously thought that it would just be a room for the Stargate (which she hadn't yet seen, but was dying to) some sleeping quarters and an infirmary.

But there were whole floors dedicated to researching the artefacts the teams brought back, which she couldn't wait to start doing (they had lasers, for goodness sake! She wasn't Xander, but didn't the prospect of lasers excite anyone?) and a library wing (which she expected was where Daniel spent a great deal of time - she wished that Giles could see it, he'd be over the moon).

But, as, at long last, she was lead to the 'gate room, all that she had just seen was as nothing compared to the majesty of the Stargate itself. She hadn't expected it to be nearly so big, and it looked so... solid. Willow could easily imagine it being dug up at some archaeological site or other, but interstellar travel?

"It's quite something, isn't it?" said Daniel, definitely not having planned to be here at the same time as Willow.

"My, yes. And you travel through that every day?" Willow replied, no taking her eyes of the 'gate. It wasn't active at the moment - Sam had described what it looked like when it was - and she couldn't imagine what it might be like to step across the event horizon to a whole new world.

"No, not every day. But fairly often." Daniel watched Willow's face intently, smiling slightly at her obvious excitement. She looked a little out of place here, in her new military garb, but then again, he probably had when he'd joined the program at its inception.

Willow suddenly remembered that, in all the excitement, she'd forgotten to give Daniel the strange cube that she had found shortly before coming here - which had actually inspired her to come here in the first place. "Hey, Daniel, I've got something for you, back in my room? D'you have time to come and see it?"

Daniel raised an eyebrow at that - a young woman inviting him back to her place to "Show him something"? - but quickly dismissed the admittedly not unwelcome thoughts that the doubtless innocent question provoked and decided to go along with her. "Sure, why not? Everything seems quiet at the moment, so let's go."

~*~

Back at her room, Willow was rummaging through a drawer - she'd barely been here a day and already she was losing things - thinking how nice it was not to have to share it with someone. Buffy had been a nice enough roommate, but being woken up every time she patrolled was not conducive to a good night. Willow vaguely wondered how long it would be before she missed having Buffy around...

Then she found the cube, and held it aloft with a cry of "Aha!"

Daniel stared at her as though she'd gone insane. When enough time had passed for him to be sure she was serious (he'd gotten used to Jack's numerous pranks) he said gently "Willow, your hand is empty."

Willow glanced at the translucent cube, inscribed with the language of the Ancients, as it flickered in and out of visibility. She wondered if there was some way, perhaps a spell of some kind, that would reveal it to Daniel, but the she shrugged and said "Hold out your hand."

Daniel did so, hesitating a little, and wondering whether Jack had already convinced Willow to take a part in his pranks. He hoped not.

Willow tipped the cube into the Daniel's hand, and as soon as it left hers and touched his, it vanished from her sight. Daniel, though, could see it as clear as day.

Although Daniel was by no means fluent in the Ancient script, the little he knew coming from Jack's brush with the Ancient repository, he knew enough to puzzle out the symbols' meaning.

It said, roughly: "_Smash in need_"

Well, thought Daniel, what harm can it do? (A thought which had already gotten him in trouble several times) Then he dashed the cube at the ground.

When nothing happened for several seconds, he picked it up again. The symbols had changed, now reading "_No, really, only in need._" Daniel let out a chuckle at that, but was silenced when the alarms indicating an unscheduled incoming wormhole went off.

He tucked the curious cube into his pocket, and promptly forgot all about it as he said to Willow, even as he rushed out the door "Come on! It looks like you'll see your first wormhole today!"

Fortunately, Willow's quarters were just down the corridor from Sam's, and as Sam was often needed to fix problems with the 'gate, sometimes late at night, Willow was in a prime location to get to the 'gate room in record time.

Walter, who, as far as Willow could tell, had no other purpose but to read off the screen, open and close the iris and on occasion dial the Stargate, said "Incoming IDC. It's the Tok'ra."

"Fantastic." said Jack, who, like the rest of his team, had cultivated the habit of getting to 'gate room promptly in such circumstances. "Can't even get away from the snakes at home."

Willow, who knew nothing more about the Tok'ra than what Jack had told her ("They're like the Goa'uld, just not evil.") which led her to suspect that they were parasites who took over the host but _weren't_ interested in conquering the galaxy, was understandably slightly nervous, enough that her first sight of an active wormhole wasn't nearly the experience she'd hoped it to be.

She really hadn't expected an alien to wear a tight leather thingy that made her look even more skanky than Cordelia.

General Hammond ordered SG-1, which had by then assembled in the 'gateroom, to meet the Tok'ra emissary in the meeting room. Obediently, they did so, leaving Willow at a bit of a loose end.

She wandered around the room for a minute, examining machinery that she couldn't even begin to guess the purpose of (to Walter's mild annoyance) before Jack poked his head round the door and said "Willow? The General would like to see you in his office."

Willow, wondering what she could possibly have done to get kicked off the base so soon, shyly nodded as Jack escorted her.

Hammond was intently examining an alien wristband of some kind when she went in, but he looked up and smiled at her, dispelling her fears (if only he'd been her principal rather than Snyder) saying "The Tok'ra emissary - you know about the Tok'ra, don't you?"

"A little." Willow admitted. Hammond went on briefly to explain in a little more detail about them than Jack had.

"Anyway, the Tok'ra have discovered, on a dig, some bracelets belonging to an extinct civilization known as the Atanik. Apparently, they provided the wearer with great strength and speed. However, the Tok'ra's symbiote renders them incapable of using one, which is why they've brought them to us. They've brought four, and SG-1 has already agreed to test them. However, Teal'c, also having a symbiote, can't use one either."

"And you'd like me to wear one, sir?" Willow asked. She knew of no other reason the General would've told her - need-to-know and all that - so she said "Why me?"

"Your magic, Ms Rosenberg. If these bracelets boost strength and speed, is it not possible they boost magic as well? So, will you test one?" Hammond answered.

Willow thought it over for a moment. "Yes, sir!" she replied excitedly.


	3. Chapter 3

Hammond, loosely holding an Atanik bracelet, led Willow into a room containing the human three-quarters of SG-1, each of whom were peering interestedly at their own armbands placed before them. Well, Sam was looking at a little monitor that was no doubt checking the device for radioactivity or some such, and Daniel was inspecting the minute inscription on the side. Jack was staring absently off into space. The Tok'ra was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Teal'c.

Willow took a seat between Daniel and Jack, who respectively ignored her and gave her a dazzling smile. Hammond placed her armband in front of her before saying "Team, you can now put on the armbands. Please report to Dr Frasier when their effect kicks in." and leaving.

Daniel started slightly - he'd been really involved in making no headway whatsoever - but Jack, who had been champing at the bit to be the first to put it on, firmly fastened his band in place. Willow followed suit, then Sam. Daniel, loath to cover the inscription with his wrist, was the last to put it on.

They sat there for a while, wondering if they'd feel strong - Willow expected they wouldn't, because, due to an interesting conversation with Buffy she'd once had, she knew that the Slayer felt no stronger than she had before being called. Which had been good for Buffy, as she didn't accidentally rip doors off hinges or anything like that.

Jack, being constitutionally incapable of sitting still, was the first to break the silence. "Does anyone feel a little dizzy?"

Sam and Willow both shook their heads, and Daniel looked thoughtful for a few seconds before saying "No."

Jack sighed, standing up. Well, it had been too much to ask that they take immediate effect. "No, me neither."

They went their separate ways: Jack to the gym to spar with Teal'c (who knows, maybe he might land a blow this time, if the armbands did work) Daniel to the library to find everything he possibly could about the Atanik (which he expected to be little, if any) and Sam to her lab (she wanted to examine her armband more closely).

Willow caught Sam before she got that far, though. "Sam, d'you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Fire away." Sam replied, still walking, Willow nearly having to jog to keep up with the much taller woman's brisk pace.

"Why were you so set against me coming to work here?" she asked, and overshot Sam as the Major suddenly stopped.

Sam had expected that Willow would ask that, she'd just hoped she wouldn't ask so _soon_. She had nothing against the redhead, it was just... "My dad was - well, still is, I suppose - an Airforce General. He wasn't really around much, and I resented that." Sam paused, not wanting to reveal too much. But Willow had a right to know. "Anyway, I joined the Airforce because of him. I was a model cadet, a model officer because I wanted to impress him. I lost my childhood because he was never around, and then I spent my adulthood doing something to make him stick around."

Sam realised she was driving off topic slightly. "Yeah, I wanted you to have a normal life, at least for a bit. Go to university, and all that."

Willow took a deep breath. She had been expecting - she didn't know what she had been expecting - but it hadn't been that. "You know, if I hadn't been fighting demons and vampires regularly since I was fifteen, I might agree with you. But I have, and, if I were still in Sunnydale, I wouldn't have stopped. So, this is about as normal as my life is going to get."

Sam started walking again, slower this time. "That must've been tough." she empathized. Then she sighed, remembering that a fair amount of equipment was in her quarters - why did Jack keep insisting she go to bed even when he knew she wouldn't? It meant that she was always bringing her work home with her. - and she needed to move it. "Hey, Willow, would you mind helping me move some equipment?"

Willow, thinking that physical activity might speed up the bracelets, was happy to do so - it was better than going halfway across Sunnydale, at night, to pick up donuts, a dangerous feat none of the Scoobies had thanked Xander for.

~*~

A few minutes later, as Willow carried the last bundle of wires to Sam's lab - how did the woman manage to fit so many gadgets in her room? - she was absently wondering what Buffy was doing - she would probably be in Psychology now. Willow wondered if Riley had worked up the nerve to ask her out yet - when a wire struggled loose from her hold, snaking down to trip her.

Naturally, she went sprawling, wires going everywhere. However, just as she too was about to land in the tangled heap, she suddenly stopped, floating in mid-air.

Willow knew what she was doing, of course - she had levitated pencils often enough - but it took all her concentration just to do that, and she had never managed to do something heavier than that, let alone herself. Yet here she was, easily holding herself aloft.

Now she just had to figure out how to lift herself upright.

~*~

Sam heard a crash in the corridor outside her laboratory and dashed out, hoping it wasn't anything major.

It wasn't. Unless you counted seeing Willow floating a few inches above the ground major, which Sam, unaware of Willow's magical limits, didn't. For all she knew, it was perfectly normal.

Sam was by her side in a second, easily hauling Willow upright, scooping up the wires - thankfully Willow hadn't dropped anything breakable - and quickly steered the redhead to her lab.

It was only a couple of seconds later that Sam realized she had walked the distance from her lab to Willow, a good thirty or so yards, in about a second, that she realised that something major had in fact happened.

~*~

Daniel, as he'd rather suspected, was getting nowhere. Given that it was possible that the Atanik's had never visited Earth, it was hardly surprising he hadn't found any reference to them.

However, that didn't mean that he'd give up just yet. He got up to retrieve a reference book from a shelf. It must've been wedged in fairly tight, because when he have it a tug, three books to either side of the one he had wanted slid out too.

He caught them, one by one, putting them back on the shelf before catching the next. None of them hit the ground. Then he flicked through the reference book for a couple of seconds, but didn't find anything useful, so he put it back.

It was only when Daniel saw another researcher staring at him open-mouthed that he realised what he had just done.

~*~

Jack, as was usual when he sparred with Teal'c, was losing. The big alien had been gracious enough not to trounce him in seconds, but Jack had yet to land a blow, whereas Teal'c had already snaked past his defence several times.

Teal'c let loose a powerful punch aimed at Jack's torso, and for Jack, time slowed down. He crouched, one hand seizing Teal'c's wrist, the other just behind his elbow. He pulled slightly, using Teal'c's momentum to pull him into his hip. Then he straightened from his crouch, pulling Teal'c up and over his shoulder.

To Teal'c, it seemed as though he had been about to score another point when suddenly, and all too abruptly, he found himself airborne. At least the walls were padded.


	4. Chapter 4

Although Hammond had thus far managed to keep Willow and Anise, the Tok'ra operative, separate - he shared to some extent the distrust Jack felt for them, and he was reluctant to share with them that magic exists - when the team began to feel the effect from their armbands, he had to allow Anise to examine them. She did, after all, have the better diagnostic technology, and she did provide the armbands.

Hammond didn't, however, have to explain why he chose Willow to be the fourth test subject.

Dr Janet Frasier was examining the brain waves (normal), temperature (slightly elevated) and heart rate (vastly faster than it should be, well beyond the point of tachycardia. However, given that they were operating faster than normal people too, and their metabolism seemed in line with that, so it was hardly a worry. At least, according to Anise.) of her patients, and was just finishing taking some blood from Willow - who, despite having faced vampires without flinching, had a mild phobia of needles.

Meanwhile, Anise was busy measuring the strength of the quartet, by asking them to squeeze a steel ball. So far, Jack, the strongest of the four, had the highest increase, Willow the lowest. However, the Tok'ra asserted that it would increase in time (truth be told, she was surprised they'd reacted as quickly as they had.)

However, Janet wasn't paying attention to that. She was far more interested in examining the sample of blood she'd taken from Sam. It showed an elevated white blood cell count, indicative of the presence of a virus. Fortunately, the infirmary had advanced enough machinery for her to examine the blood yet more closely - she was curious to see how it interacted with human tissue.

So she was rather surprised when she found the virus present in the sample, and it wasn't reacting. At all. It had the same appearance of the dead viruses given in vaccines. Janet couldn't believe that the virus was dormant - something had to be behind the dramatic increases the quartet were feeling - so it had to be dead.

Which meant that the virus wasn't contagious, as it couldn't live outside the wearer of the armband. Janet spent a moment appreciating the incredibly advanced biological engineering that the long-extinct Ataniks must have used in the creation of such a thing.

However, that quickly passed. Just because the virus wasn't contagious didn't mean it wasn't a threat to the four test subjects. If their metabolism continued to increase at the same, continuous rate, soon they wouldn't be able to eat fast enough to keep up with it, and they would, quite literally, eat through their own stomachs. Likewise, if their heart beats continued to increase, their hearts would tear themselves apart like so much wet paper. Perhaps the Ataniks had fallen afoul of their own technology, and they became extinct because of it?

Janet passed along this theory to Anise and the General - away from the group, of course. There was no need to worry them unduly. - and Anise promptly answered "No. From the remnants found at the dig site, we believe that the Ataniks made a great deal of enemies, and one, too strong for them to fight, wiped them out."

However, it would seem that the hearing of the group had been augmented as well, because, upon hearing this, Jack said let out a large sigh and said "Well, thank goodness for that!"

Hammond, though, was far from reassured. In a job where he often had to make choices that may impact upon, without exaggeration, the fate of the galaxy, he found it always paid to be cautious, especially with regards to alien technology. "Nevertheless, team, I'm unwilling to put your safety in jeopardy for the sake of a scientific test, no matter what the outcome might be. So, I'm ordering you to remove those bracelets."

Every member of the test group looked like they would've liked to object, but one look at the stern General's expression soon persuaded them that it might not be the best idea.

Unfortunately, removal of the armbands appeared to be something easier said than done. Jack tried to pull it off with enough force he thought it might break - either that or his arm -, Sam tried to pry it off, first with nails, then with a pencil, but couldn't get near enough leverage. Both Willow and Daniel made a couple of attempts, but quickly desisted when it became obvious it was futile. Under other circumstances, Willow might've tried a spell, but she was mindful that Hammond had asked her not to do so in front of the Tok'ra, no matter how much she might be itching to do some magic.

It didn't take long for Hammond to realise that those armbands wouldn't be coming off - unless they amputated, which was an idea he'd be keeping in reserve. Sam, though, thought that, despite the risks the technology _might_ pose (she clearly emphasized this when she put it to the General) that their newfound strength and speed might be put to better use fighting the Goa'uld. Everyone added their voices to that, even Willow, who had yet to go off world.

Before Hammond had the chance to veto that, Anise jumped in saying "Perhaps now would be an opportune moment to mention that we know of the location of a planet where Apophis is building a prototype ship, the completion of which will guarantee his domination of the galaxy?"

Jack, ever wary of any Snake, Goa'uld or Tok'ra, couldn't help but find fault in that. "You've been planning this all along, haven't you? That's why you brought the armbands to us in the first place!"

Anise denied the accusation calmly. "I assure you, that is not the case. I had not originally planned to tell you at all, but as you are so keen to put your gifts to use in the galaxy at large, I thought you ought to know."

No one bought that. Hammond said "No, I will not allow you to venture into enemy terrain whilst under the effects of an alien technology. No matter how much you might beg me otherwise, Dr Jackson." this last remark was directed at Daniel, who had opened his mouth to begin his protest. "Now, go to your quarters, and wait there until we find some way to get those things off of you!"

They raced off, leaving in a gust of wind that left several papers streaming in their wake. What unnerved Hammond most of all was that he didn't know if they'd intended to run off, or they thought they were walking at normal speed.

~*~

The quartet did all go to their respective quarters. They just didn't stay there for every long, due to the unfortunate fact that none of them contained any food. And they were _hungry_. Daniel and Jack decided, independently of each other, to pay a visit to Sam's room, as she was the most likely to protest against their breaking of Hammond's order. Willow, located just down the hall, heard them go past and decided to join in.

"Anyone else hungry?" asked Daniel, once they were all there.

"Yes!" chorused Jack and Sam in harmony.

"I could do with a steak." Willow said wistfully, then was surprised at herself for doing so. She wasn't normally a big meat-eating girl.

"O'Malley's is in town." Sam remarked.

"Let's go!" Jack declared.

An idea hit Willow. "I'll meet you there. There's something I want to try first."

Sam, Daniel and Jack rushed to get dressed in civilian clothes, and poured out through the exit into town. Whilst Willow followed suit with the getting dressed part, she didn't follow them out. At least, physically.

She found it was surprisingly simple to unhook her mind from her body, setting it adrift. It took rather less than a moment to find O'Malley's, which was odd, given that she didn't know where it was.

Then, with an odd twist of her mind, she _pulled_... and found herself outside a steak house, the other three skidding to a halt in front of her. Well, it certainly looked like the armband boosted her magic as well - there wouldn't have been a chance that she'd normally be able to do that.

With one voice, the trio before her said "You've _got_ to teach me how to do that."


	5. Chapter 5

The time it took between being seated and a waitress to appear could only have been a couple of minutes at best, but to the group it seemed like hours. Evidently, as their metabolism speeded up, their perception of time slowed down. That would be why moving so quickly a normal human would see only a blur was normal to them.

After ordering several steaks (each) Sam, not wanting to have to sit still and wait for the food to arrive, commented "Look, the pool table's free. We could play doubles?"

"Sure." said Jack.

"Willow's on my team." Daniel said, before anyone else can. Willow beamed, and the quartet move over to the table.

"D'you want to break?" Daniel and Jack asked at exactly the same time, then laughed. "Coin toss?" Daniel suggested as a compromise.

Jack rummaged around for a coin, flicking it high into the air - he'd been careful not to put too much force behind it in case it went through the ceiling, but it still went pretty high.

Willow and Sam watched the coin as it comes tumbling down, to be deftly snatched out of the air by Jack. The two women, having kept a close eye on the coin, had rapidly calculated the outcome. They both tried to call "Heads!" but Sam got there just slightly before Willow, meaning she and Jack got to break.

Sam, who even without powers granted by alien technology, always tried to calculate the exact angle and force to hit the ball. Of course, being only human, it normally didn't work out that well, and she generally lost to Jack or Daniel, the more experienced players. She could normally beat Teal'c though, when he deigned to play.

However, now Sam was a little more than merely human. With a perfect shot, she knocked a red ball of the corner right into a pocket. She passed the cue to Jack (normally it would be her go again, but where would the fun be if she potted every ball?)

Jack almost negligently hit the ball, but Willow, seeing the way the game was going to go, decided to help her team along a bit. Just as another ball was streaking towards a pocket, she focused briefly, increasing the mass of the ball for a second to slow it down enough so it wouldn't reach the pocket.

Jack snorted in amazement - he could've made that shot even without the armbands - but doesn't suspect Willow of cheating, so Daniel lined up his shot.

Before he could take it, though, a couple of heavily muscled men appear behind him, one of them tapping him on the shoulder. The other three look around to find themselves similarly surrounded.

The man who tapped Daniel said "Hey, why don't you and your friend push off, and let us have a game with the pretty ladies?" in a voice laden with menace. Daniel smirked wolfishly - it looked like there was going to be more action before dinner than he could've hoped for.

However, he decides to ignore the man - starting a fight was never his style - and calmly chips a ball into a pocket. The thugs' spokesman, though, wasn't going to be having any of that.

He and his crony haul on Daniel's arms, but he doesn't budge. In frustration, one of them lets loose a punch at Daniel's face. Daniel, in a blur, whips up to catch the other man's hand and the sound of breaking bones echo throughout the now-silent bar.

Then the fun began in earnest. Jack stepped on the feet of one, then pushes him backwards, hard. The twin cracks of breaking ankles were drowned by the howls of agony.

Sam stabbed her fingers into the throat of a man, whipping a knee up into his groin and then smashing him on the head as he doubles over.

Daniel picked up the whimpering body of the man whose hand he just crushed to a pulp and threw him bodily at the second man, sending them crashing right through a couple of tables.

Willow, though, decided to forgo the physical approach, and merely sets the pair of men flanking her on fire, although she immediately regretted doing so when the stench of burning flesh spread across the bar.

All in all, despite only lasting a minute or so - the four tried to stretch it out as long as they could, but even that wasn't long - it was a decidedly satisfying fight.

Which really didn't explain why they felt so guilty about maiming - and, in a few cases, killing - their antagonists.

But Willow had a cure for that. She focused, pulling in energy from everywhere she could - even enhanced as she was, she would need a colossal amount of energy to fuel this spell.

She drew in enough energy that she felt she might burst, and then hurled herself backwards - not physically, but through time - pulling her three friends along with her.

A couple of minutes before the fight, the lights flared, then went out. A wave of drowsiness struck everyone in the vicinity. The drinks behind the bar froze as the temperature dropped. But none of that mattered much, because no one had been hurt, or died - save in the memory of four people.

"Okay." said Jack, thoughtfully. "I think we'd best get back to base before we hurt some other people." The others, subdued, nodded, and dashed back. Hopefully no one would notice they'd gone.

Willow went a little more slowly than the others. She wanted time to think. Whilst the others had felt no compunction about hurting those thugs, the deaths they'd caused had been accidental. But hers hadn't, she'd gone straight to killing.

The worst bit was, in that split moment, before she'd realised what she'd done, she had enjoyed it.

It was a horrible thought, and one which Willow didn't want to think. So she didn't.

Interestingly enough, the moment Willow decided to dwell on other, lighter matters, she noticed a strange sensation - she'd been having it for several minutes, now, but she'd just been tuning it out.

She felt there was somewhere she had to be, and a slight edge of panic in case she didn't make it there in time. Fortunately, Willow thought as she changed direction, unnoticed by the rest of the group, being slow wasn't much of a problem. And anyway, if she went, she might find out why she was feeling this way.

A darker part of her, that she struggled to repress, thought that maybe she'd be able to hurt something.

It was only a matter of moments before Willow arrived at the place she felt she had to be, and she saw why. A trio, of large, slavering demons, which looked suspiciously like heavily armoured, flaming T-Rexs, were advancing down a narrow alley way towards a woman hiding in the shadows.

So, it seemed that Willow couldn't set them on fire - they already were - so she tried summoning water instead, but it flashed to steam several feet above the Godzilla demons (a good a name as any). Willow tried a binding spell, but it just glanced off them. So, immune to magic, then. Well, Willow could do physical (and a part of her was raring to have a go).

One of the Godzillas had noticed Willow by now, and turned around and charged at her with a surprising turn of speed. Willow surprised herself by doing a Buffy-esque vault over its head, landing on the thing's back (and getting mildly burned before she remembered to magically immunize herself against flames).

She hauled back on the creatures neck, breaking it. Her fiery Godzilla died, vanishing into a burst of flame, and Willow found it even harder to repress the burst of exultation she felt at the kill.

But anyway, she was bored now. These creatures weren't enough of a challenge. It was the work of seconds to kill the remaining two, and the satisfaction she felt upon doing so knew no bounds.

A slow clap came from behind her, and Willow realised she had forgotten all about the Godzillas prey. Suddenly, she knew who she'd see if she turned around.

She turned around, and her hunch was right. It was Drusilla.


	6. Chapter 6

To say Willow and Drusilla didn't get on would be a colossal understatement. Last time they'd met, Drusilla had been hypnotized by an Ancient, starting a chain of events that had led to Willow nearly being tortured to death. Before that, Drusilla had left Willow in a coma.

A day or so earlier, before she'd put on the Atanik armband, Willow would've run away as fast as she could. A minute or so earlier, before she'd sated the lust for violence (that she refused to believe she had), Willow would've wiped Drusilla of the face of the planet.

Now, though, Willow wanted to know why the vampire was here, and, if possible, why she had felt Drusilla's need for help calling to her.

Although, perhaps it might help if she had the faintest idea of what to say.

"Silence is falling, softly as snow, silently screaming in Sunnydale." Drusilla murmured, nonsensically.

Willow thought asking "What're you doing here?" might be a good start.

"The Sky-man brought me here. Don't you remember? You were there, and I was there, and other people were there. Then they let me go. But I didn't know where to go, so I stayed." Drusilla answered, for once making some sense.

"Why don't you go back to Sunnydale? Spike's there." Willow said.

"Don't you listen, little darkling one? Listen to what you can't hear. William's not mine. Danger, danger, in the dark, blood red darkening to black." replies Drusilla, although all that Willow can gather from that is that Drusilla didn't want to go back.

"Angel's in Los Angeles, you could go there." Willow suggested.

"Daddy!" Drusilla yelped, clapping excitedly.

An idea popped fully formed into Willow's head. She walked over to the vampire (and was interested to see that Drusilla shrank away from her slightly, trying to hide in the darkness. However, it seemed as though the armbands dramatically increased her night vision) and said "Let me help you get there." then Willow put a hand on Drusilla's arm, and teleported her.

Well, not just teleporting. Feeling the magic roiling inside her, Willow couldn't help but add a modicum of revenge. Drusilla would arrive something... more. She'd be more use to Angel like that anyway.

Anyway, she'd better get back to the base, the others must've missed her by now.

~*~

Meanwhile, Sam, Jack and Daniel had gathered in Jack's room - it was the least cluttered of the group's - and were discussing what to do. They felt, reasonably enough, that they couldn't stay here, there was too great a risk of them accidentally hurting someone, and maybe next time, Willow wouldn't be able to make it so that it never happened. Speaking of which, they didn't know where she had gotten to, although, for some reason, Sam felt sure she was fine (and not accidentally killing people).

Unsurprisingly, Willow chose that moment to come zipping into the room. She looked different from the nervous girl she'd been just this morning - not just her lightly charred clothes, which they assumed she'd gotten setting those guys on fire - but she stood straighter, seemed more assertive. Then there was the fact that the tips of her hair seemed to be going black - perhaps they were charred too? - and Daniel could've sworn her eyes were darker than they had been before.

Of course, Willow was unaware of this. She'd been thinking that the buzz she had gotten from killing the flaming Godzillas was wearing off, and she knew just where to go where she'd be justified in killing people. In fact, Anise had given them the perfect opportunity - and they could help the galaxy as a whole at the same time.

Willow quickly laid her plan out to the team. "Everyone, what do you say to going and destroying Apophis' prototype ship?" It was a simple enough plan.

Despite the fact that the team didn't share Willow's violent motive for going, they couldn't see any reason not to go along with it - besides, of course, that Hammond had expressly ordered them to stay in their quarters. But then, they'd already broken that order, and anyway, they'd done similar things to save the world before.

Besides, they were getting stir crazy. Sam, the fastest, was having trouble sitting still, and was fidgeting rapidly, fingers a blur. It didn't take long for her to agree to Willow's simple plan, and the rest quickly followed suit.

It took but seconds for everyone to get ready. Sam and Jack brought guns as well as the explosives they'd need to blow up the ship, whilst Daniel and Willow went unarmed - Willow, because magic was more effective than any gun, and Daniel because he'd never been entirely comfortable with them in the first place, and currently his hands were suitable weapons in any case.

Then Daniel, Jack and Willow went to the 'gateroom, whilst Sam went to the overlooking command room - knocking out the guards there as gently as she could - whilst she looked for the address Anise had given "Just in case." Once found, she started dialling the address, looking through the ship's schematics at the same time (Anise had provided everything. It looked more and more likely that the Tok'ra had planned the whole thing. Not that that bothered Sam, they'd have gone anyway, but it would've been nice to be told up front).

Sam realised they'd have to adjust their plan - such as it was. They couldn't go straight to the power source, it was too heavily armoured to blow up. Although Willow could probably magically do it, the ensuing explosion would likely incinerate them all.

The cooling system, on the other hand, looked like the perfect target.

Then they were out and through the gate, the whole operation taking so little time that they were gone before anyone had the chance to even react to the alarms their unscheduled 'gate activation set off.

~*~

Unbeknownst to the souped-up team, had they gone to see Hammond or Janet, they never would've left the planet at all.

Janet had spent some time examining the blood samples containing the virus, and, after several hours, something had caught her attention. The dead, inactive virus acted like a vaccine, and the immune system would eventually defeat it. The same would happen with the live version.

Which meant that the abilities it granted were only temporary. No doubt the Ataniks, under the effect of the armbands, had made a powerful enemy, and when their effect wore off they'd been too weak to defend themselves. Evidently the Ataniks hadn't found a way around the problem.

Of course, Janet had immediately gone to Hammond with this information, and they'd been discussing it at the very moment the alarms went off signalling SG-1's departure. Which meant they were off world, storming a heavily guarded base, with a judgement-impairing advantage that might wear off at any time.

Naturally, Hammond had gone to Teal'c upon learning this - the fourth member clearly had a right to know - and Teal'c had said "In that case, General Hammond, I believe that they will need my assistance."

"It's a suicide mission."

"I do not believe so. They may have enough time to plant their explosives, but they may not be able to get back. In which case, I must offer my assistance." said Teal'c, calmly. Technically, if Hammond didn't let Teal'c go, he could demand to return to Chulak and then go on from there. He _would_ help his friends.

Hammond, having spent several years getting to know the stoic Jaffa, knew that Teal'c was determined to go. So he may as well let him. Of course, that was partly because Hammond sincerely hoped that Teal'c could help.


	7. Chapter 7

The superpowered quartet were through the 'gate in seconds, and had thoroughly trounced the Jaffa defending it mere seconds after that.

Willow was pleased that she hadn't felt the need to rip anyone to shreds or anything like that (although, of course, she didn't admit to ever wanting to have done so in the first place) and when the other three, after stopping outside the ship entrance to watch two Jaffa labouring to carry a block of something into the ship, they noticed that the black ends of her hair had vanished. Unfortunately, that didn't mean that Willow didn't retain some violent feelings.

"What's that?" asked Daniel, referring to heavy block the Jaffa were carrying.

"Weapons grade Naquadah" Sam replied, eyes filled with avarice despite her fidgeting - these armbands weren't entirely setback free - and went on to say "Just imagine how many generators we could power with that!"

Willow, having discerned from the context that Naquadah was some kind of power source, asked "How many?"

Even sped up, it would've taken Sam a couple of seconds to make the complicated calculation, and she gave up half way through. She knew that Willow would settle for "Lots" as an answer, and if she didn't, Jack certainly would.

Daniel, who wanted to stretch his legs after standing still for a minute or so, said "I'll get it. Anyone else want to come?"

Willow thought for a fraction of a second about agreeing, but then she wouldn't be able to see as much of the ship (which was why she hadn't just teleported in and out) and she also wanted to help explode something. Buffy had exploded a school, but she'd never do a spaceship!

None of these deliberations really mattered, because Daniel was already gone before she had a chance to answer.

"Well it looks like we're on our own." said Jack wryly.

They all ran, following the direction that Sam led them on until she suddenly stopped, and it took all Willow's and Jack's enhanced reflexes not to pile into her.

When Jack was sure he wasn't going to end up sandwiched between Willow and Sam (he cursed his treacherous mind for thinking that that might not be such an unpleasant experience) he asked "What's going on?"

Sam paused for several seconds, the wait seeming to last an eternity. "I think... we're lost." Willow chuckled at that - Giles disliked admitting to being lost too - until Sam gave her the look of death, at which she hastened to put on a solemn and innocent expression.

Jack, however, had no such compunctions, and his laughter rang throughout the corridor. Sam, not wishing to stay and be laughed at, moved slowly (compared to the speed she could move at while wearing the bracelet) and walked right into a force field. The shock of it made her sit down quite unexpectedly, and Jack laughed even harder, doubling up. Willow laughed too, but not as hard (it was funny, just nowhere near as much as the Colonel seemed to think it was).

Sam had tuned out the laughter, thinking that the information the Tok'ra spy had provided Anise hadn't mentioned any force fields. Not that it mattered, she thought as she took a few steps away from it. Running at her enhanced speed, she should be able to run right through the oscillating energy that the shield was composed of.

Her theory proved correct, and when she was on the other side, the laughter dried up. Sam, smiling radiantly, said "Hey, I think I know where we are." and ran on.

Jack and Willow ran after her, Willow asking how she'd just run through the shield, and thinking that the scientific version of a shield was vastly inferior to the magical when Sam had explained.

Then there was nothing more to be said, because they were at the cooling chamber, blue liquid, pulsing with light, being sucked upwards into the ceiling, out of sight. The trio took a moment to take in the sight, then planted the C4 with a five minute delay. Ten minutes after their detonation the ships core would overheat, the ensuing explosion destroying the surrounding countryside for miles.

They ran back, Sam taking great care to retrace her steps, so as not to be lost (as fast as they were, if they couldn't get out, they'd be exploded alongside the ship).

They were just about to go through the force field when they saw Daniel come running around the corner - in slow motion, or so it seemed. He saw them, waved excruciatingly slowly, and then keeled over backwards. As he hit the ground, his armband came off.

Needless to say, the trio were through the shield and by his side in no time. Well, Willow and Jack were, but Sam, just a second behind them, could feel herself slowing down as she ran at the shield, so much so that she couldn't make it through. She crashed heavily into it, then fell backwards from the impact, every bit as unconscious as Daniel. Unbeknownst to her, Sam's armband also dropped off.

Jack's head whipped around when he heard the noise of Sam hitting the ground - but slowly, too slowly. Even as he ran to catch her, he too gained full immunity to the virus the bracelets carried, dropping unconscious as he did so, his armband following those who'd gone before.

Willow didn't see any of this. She'd scooped Daniel up in her arms, and was panicking, running, running, and running back to the Stargate. She didn't know that she was leaving her friends behind, unconscious. Nor did she know that the C4 had detonated, leaving ten minutes before everything for miles around was destroyed.

It wasn't until, after what felt to her like years, but in reality was only seconds, that she arrived at the Stargate, and saw Teal'c emerge from it, staff weapon in hand, that she realised that her friends weren't right behind her, as she'd thought.

Her first thought was _Got to get away, got to get away!_ but this was soon swamped by the thought _Everything will be better if I kill something._ However, the part of her that gave rise to the first thought was repulsed at that, and the rest of her, the parts that refused to contemplate abandoning her friends, thought _I'd better go help them then._

~*~

Author's note: okay, readers, I changed the situation with the force field a little. It's nothing major, it just seemed better this way to me.


	8. Chapter 8

Teal'c glanced briefly at the unconscious Daniel held in Willow's arms, noting the lack of armband on his arm. He noticed that Willow seemed distraught, and so, in his standard stoic manner, he merely said "Where are the others?"

Willow answered automatically, already imagining her friends dying in the explosion, blaming herself for it. "They must be back in the ship. I'd better go and bring them here. Can you guard Daniel, there might be more Jaffa around. If I'm not back in, say, five minutes, get through the 'gate." she didn't need to say it would be too late for her and the others.

Before Teal'c had a chance to answer - although he probably wouldn't have contested Willow's perfectly sound plan - Willow stooped and gently lay Daniel on the ground, staying a little longer than strictly necessary to make sure that he was alright, before she dashed off to save the others.

~*~

Sam recovered consciousness slowly, partially because she really didn't want to. She knew that awakening wouldn't be pleasant. But even will power can't stop the tide of consciousness forever.

She sat up groggily, and, upon looking around, was instantly glad of doing so. Sam knew there couldn't be much time before the C4 went off - indeed, for all she knew, it already might have - and Jack was sprawled unconscious on the other side of the still active force field. She had to wake him up before it was too late.

"Sir...Colonel...Jack!" the final call made him stir grumpily. Unfortunately, Sam didn't have time for this - she wasn't about to let him die here. "Sir, you've got to get out of here!"

Jack looked at her in askance, the said "What?" then his eyes widened in realization, as his mouth shaped the words "The explosives!" Sam rolled her eyes - although she knew the entire thing couldn't have taken more than a minute, it could be one of the last he'd ever had. Certainly one of her last.

As the gravity of what was happening suddenly hit her, Sam thought "_Oh, bugger it. Screw regulations._" She said, softly and urgently "Jack, you have to get out of here. I'm going to die here-" and why was she so cool about that? "-but you can get out. Get the hell out of here, Jack. Save yourself. Please."

Jack was surprised. They'd been in situations equally as tough as this, if not more so - he was sure he'd remember them in a minute or so - but Sam was _begging_ him to leave.

And he wasn't going to. Like hell he would. He loved this woman. It had been growing on him since they were trapped together in Antarctica. If Sam was going to die here, he was going to die right along with her.

"No." he said fiercely.

"Jack-"

"_I said no, Major._"

"Jack-"

"Look, Sam, I'm not going to leave you, alright! I-I-I love you." Jack stuttered, looking at her closely to see how she took it.

"Oh." Sam replied. What else could she say? She had feelings for him too, of course she did, which was why the relationships with the numerous aliens and occasional humans who kept falling for her never worked out.

"Jack, get out of here." Sam said. She wouldn't - couldn't - watch him die, and she wouldn't let him see the tears streaming down her face, so she turned her head away.

Which was the only reason Sam saw the surprisingly stealthy pair of Jaffa creeping up behind her. She scrambled for her weapon, as did Jack when he saw the reason for it, even though he couldn't shoot through the force field. But before Sam had a chance to reach her weapon, the Jaffa had their staff weapons pointed at her.

Then Sam heard the most welcome voice of her life.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" said Willow, lightly.

~*~

Willow felt anything but light. Her first response upon seeing the Jaffa menacing Sam was "_Got to get them away!_" to which end she opened a wormhole - "_A wormhole! Teleporting them somewhere random would've been faster_" she thought a second later - underneath the first Jaffa's feet.

However, the homicidal impulses she'd been feeling kicked in, and the other end of the wormhole, the end that the Jaffa would go through, changed position.

All three looked away instantly. That was definitely something they'd be having nightmares about for years to come. On the upside, at the least the Jaffa had both died instantly. Hopefully.

Then Willow blew on the shield, melting it with magic. Unfortunately, even with super strength and speed, Willow was still only a small woman - she couldn't carry them both at the same time, and every other option was too slow. Fortunately, she still had magic.

Willow opened another wormhole - "_What is with me and wormholes today?_" - and the trio stepped through to the DHD and the waiting Teal'c and the now-conscious Daniel.

Teal'c instantly dialled the gate, just as the primary explosion that would proceed the large one by a fraction of a second occurred.

They had little time left. Willow made a split second decision, magically hurling the other four through the now-open 'gate, and shut it off.

Just before the blast wave hit her, Willow thought "_What the hell did I do that for?"_, but was shouted down by the part of her that had made her stay - incidentally, the same part that had opened the wormholes.

Then the blast wave hit, and the part of Willow that had forced her to stay began feeding on it. At that point, the rest of Willow realised what had happened, but her and the violence were too late.

Then she wasn't entirely Willow anymore.

~*~

Jack, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c all tumbled down the ramp leading up to 'gate, knocking down the guards surrounding it like bowling pins.

Even before they had had a chance to get up and process what had actually happened, Hammond asked "What happened?"

Fortunately, whatever garbled and incoherent answer the group would've given was interrupted by an incoming wormhole. Which wasn't, in any way, attached to the Stargate.

Willow stepped through, her eyes closed. If she was breathing, no one could tell.

Hammond asked "Why does she still have her armband, and you don't?" At that point, Willow's armband dropped off with a loud clang as it hit the ramp.

Then something that definitely wasn't Willow opened her eyes. As Sam the physicist could've told you, colour was a product of light. Willow's normally vivid green eyes were that colour because they absorbed all wavelengths of light, besides green, which they reflected. All colour was merely a reflection of one of the various frequencies of light, and there are only so many of those.

The colour that Willow's eyes were now weren't any of these. If they were reflections of light, it was an entirely different spectrum.

"Does this seem like déjà vu to anyone?" Jack muttered, not expecting an answer. Which was just as well, as everyone was shocked speechless.


	9. Chapter 9

Hammond had had enough experience of SG teams being possessed, be it by Goa'uld, affected by alien technology, or something completely different, to know that the figure before him wasn't Willow. Of course, the impossibly coloured eyes gave that away.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"We are Willow." came the answer. It was Willow's voice - if stripped of all intonation and then replayed, over and over again, over the original voice so that it sounded like thousands of voices speaking at once. Except that each of those voices were Willow's.

Daniel broke in. "No, I don't think you are. The eyes are wrong, Willow had only one voice, and she never spoke with a plural."

Willow turned to face him. Suddenly, without any intermediate change, her eyes reverted from the impossible eyes to Willow's bright green ones. "Is that better, Daniel?" she asked, and it was Willow's voice - really Willow's voice, nothing changed or odd about it.

Hammond decided to continue with the procedure he'd established in such circumstances. "What are you?" he asked. He appreciated he might not understand the answer, but it might go some way to getting the real Willow back, if possible.

"We are... refugees, would be the closest term. We seek asylum." Willow answered. Or not-Willow, as the case may be.

"What're you running from? Where are you from?" Jack asked. He was perhaps more wary than his comrades, because he'd been in command when Caelus had come through the 'gate such a short while ago, and had seen the chaos the man who hadn't once made a single threat had caused. Hell, he'd nearly been tortured to death by him. So he wasn't about to be all trusting, just because the thing claimed to be a refugee.

"We come from - another dimension, we think. One that is very different from this one. As to what we are running from... that is very difficult to explain." not-Willow said.

"Try." said Sam. She wanted to know where the bright young woman who she'd failed to keep safe had gone, and what the thing standing in her place wanted.

"The beings from our dimension are very different from yours. We are... pluralistic. Each being is composed of untold minds, each of which share the same opinions. Should there be any disagreements, we split, joining other entities, or forming our own. We do not die, as you seem to, save by our own choosing." not-Willow began, but was cut off when Daniel asked:

"How do you know about our dimension? You've been here all of five minutes. And how did you get here anyway?"

"We _are_ Willow. We told you this. We have her memories, her likes, and her dislikes. Much of what we experience in this body is shaped by that. Our mind merely works differently from hers." not-Willow replied.

"Did you kill her?" asked Sam aggressively.

"No. We do not kill. In our dimension, it is impossible to do so, and we would not do so here. We merely swapped places - although, in our dimension, she is hibernating. Her mind may not stand up to the strain of a dimension where the laws of physics are very different. Also, we feel it may keep her safe from the Darkness." not-Willow answered.

Okay, thought Hammond, now they were getting somewhere. "What is this darkness?" he asked.

"Wait, how do we get Willow back?" Jack interrupted, then muttered and apology when his commanding officer glared at him.

"Our dimension is infinitely different from your own. We doubt your minds could comprehend it - not because you are stupid, you understand, but because it is so far outside of your frame of reference you could not imagine it. It is malleable, we can form what we want from it. Everything changes constantly, according to our whims.

Everything changes, except the Darkness. It is a fixed point. We cannot alter it, nor affect it in any way. All who come near to it are stricken by a crippling fear, and should they get any closer, they vanish. We believe they die.

We do not know what the Darkness is. We have never been able to gather any data about it save what I have just told you. It has always been there.

Except now it is growing. It spreads throughout our realm, sowing fear and death wherever it goes. So we escaped. And as for Willow, Jack, she will be returned to you." not-Willow replied comprehensively.

Daniel didn't want Willow to die. Or be asleep in some other dimension, assuming not-Willow was telling the truth. But he also didn't want to have to force this being back to a dimension under siege. He didn't know why he believed it - them - her - oh, whatever, but he suspected it was in a large part due to the fact it looked and sounded like Willow.

All of which drove Daniel to ask how not-Willow how it came to be in Willow's body. He also asked her - it - oh blast, not that again - for a name. He felt uncomfortable calling it not-Willow, even in his head.

"Are you aware of the principles of how that which you call magic works?" not-Willow asked, avoiding the second half of the question.

"No.' said Sam eagerly. Daniel looked at her, and she shrugged sheepishly. Couldn't Daniel understand that she wanted to know how _everything_ worked? Even Giles, who seemed to be the expert on such things, hadn't had a clue as to how magic worked. He had told Sam, when she'd asked, that there had been numerous theories, but no one knew which one was correct.

"Imagine everyone has a temperature. People with magic have a lower temperature - the more proficient with magic they are, the lower that temperature is. This allows them to absorb the life force from those around them, from the planet, from everywhere they can get it, and project it outwards, in various forms. They call this magic.

Willow's proficiency with magic was increased by the armbands, and her magical temperature reached zero. She was absorbing so much that even other entities, from other planes and other dimensions, such as myself, could latch onto her. That is the source of the violent tendencies she felt before we entered her. That was banished when we took full control."

Walter tugged at his General's sleeve to get his attention - he'd tried calling him several times, but Hammond had apparently been so engaged with not-Willow's revelations that he hadn't even heard.

"Sir" Walter said deferentially "Senator Kinsey's sent word ahead that he's coming, with orders for... umm, Ms Rosenberg and whatever might be using her body currently to be given into his care."

Jack said "Kinsey? How'd did he get wind of this so fast?"

Hammond didn't answer. "I don't take orders from Kinsey, Sergeant."

"Actually, General, you do. The President himself has given me orders to take - that thing - into my custody." said Senator Robert Kinsey himself.

~*~

Author's note: the description of magic is entirely filched from Sergei Lukyanenko's "Twilight" quartet. I heartily recommend it - you don't even have to read it in the original Russian.

Willow is currently not Dark Willow. Yes, there have been hints of it, but I explained those. This is an entirely different entity.


	10. Chapter 10

"We refuse to enter into the custody of that man." said not-Willow perfectly calmly.

Kinsey replied "You don't have a choice." at the same time Hammond asked "Why?"

"Because his entire voting campaign is built on him being a fanatic Christian, he is astoundingly intolerant of other beliefs, and we were raised Jewish and are now leaning towards Paganism. He is also rabidly against homosexuality, and we have some bisexual tendencies. Finally, although too young to vote at the last election, we supported the opposition." not-Willow said, categorically stating her reasons for not wanting to go with Kinsey. Then, taking in the gawping faces, finished "We told you we shared Willow's opinions."

"Excuse me for a moment." said Jack in a strangled voice. He didn't quite make it out of the room before he burst out into peals of laughter.

"But, according to my sources, you're an alien entity." said a red faced Kinsey, although whether from embarrassment or anger, no one could tell.

"What sources are these, Kinsey? We only found ourselves that Willow was host to an alien mere minutes ago." Daniel said, a little more harshly than he had intended to. He knew that Kinsey, with his numerous links to the NID, could insure that Willow would never see the light of day again, whether as an alien or a magic user. And Daniel would do his utmost to stop Kinsey from getting her.

"Oh, come _on_, Jackson! You can't really believe that magic exists, after all you've seen? She has to be some kind of highly evolved alien." Kinsey replied, trying to save some face.

"Actually, sir, she is human. She's been living in Sunnydale, California for her entire life - there are detailed records of her life there - and we've seen some things that couldn't be explained in any other way." Sam said. She saw a faint glimmer of hope for stopping Kinsey from taking Willow, possessed by alien or no. If she could get Kinsey to admit that Willow was human (or, at any rate, had been) then, legally, Kinsey couldn't hold her against her will, as she hadn't committed any crimes.

Kinsey looked as though he was going to burst out with something, or go striding off with not-Willow in tow, but then something Sam just said worked his way through to him. "Did you say Sunnydale?" he asked Sam, as politely as he could. Sam nodded, bemused by the sudden turn this conversation was taking. Kinsey, satisfied, levelled a finger, quivering with righteousness, at not-Willow (who quirked an eyebrow and stared at it coolly). "She's a demon!" he declared, triumphantly.

Not-Willow spun to look at the only people she knew about the demons in Sunnydale. "We didn't tell him." said Sam and Daniel in unison. Jack, poking his head back around the door (apparently he'd recovered from his fit of giggles by now) said "I didn't tell him either." Teal'c said "I did not inform the Senator of such matters either."

However, unbeknownst to all of them, General Hammond _had_ known of the existence of demons, vampires and the like long before SG-1 had discovered them. With security clearance as high as his, he was one of the few privileged to know about the Initiative. However, even they weren't aware of the existence of magic, which was why he'd leapt at the chance to have someone with magic as part of the SGC.

He might not have liked what the Initiative were doing, but there was nothing he could do about it. "I should've known you were involved with the Initiative, Kinsey." he said, coldly. Kinsey shrugged, as though to say "_Who, me?_"

"We must talk to Buffy about this!" said not-Willow urgently.

Kinsey returned to the business in hand. "No, you don't. You need to come with me. There are numerous tests we need to run, to see how you work. So, no, you won't be seeing this Buffy any time soon."

Not-Willow didn't have magic - the transference had raised Willow's magical temperature to that of every other living thing - and she couldn't manipulate this dimension as she could in her home realm. She could, however, affect _very_ little things.

Like light photons. Kinsey suddenly saw not-Willow waver like a mirage, then vanish, appearing several feet to the left of where she had been. Then she wavered again, and three of her were standing side by side, identical.

"Stop it." he said, imperiously. Everyone looked at him curiously - as far as they could see, nothing was happening.

Not-Willow experimented a little more. It was useful having the memories of someone well versed in the physics of this universe, it allowed her to know more precisely how to do what she wanted to do. For instance, vibrating the air to create sound waves.

To Kinsey, it looked as though not-Willow suddenly vanished. He spun around, everyone looking at him like he had gone crazy. Not-Willow's voice floated to him, unheard by anyone else. "Poor Robert. Losing our mind, are we? We're right..." the voice trailed off "...**behind you!**" the voice suddenly boomed.

Kinsey darted this way and that, trying to see everything, trying to see what was causing the footsteps behind him, that were getting closer, closer... "Stop it, stop it, stop it!" he gibbered in a panic.

Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder, and he hit back at it with all his might. The room wavered, and Kinsey saw that he'd just crushed the nose of an Airman. Two others rushed from the sides of the room to pin his arms to his sides. "Take Kinsey and Sergeant Williams to the infirmary." Hammond ordered.

Standing in exactly the same place she had been standing the entire time, not-Willow smiled faintly to herself. "We told you we wouldn't go with him"

"Airmen, escort her to the cells." commanded Hammond. Two Airmen flanked her, and she went with them without a word of protest.

Daniel followed them. He wanted the ask not-Willow some questions about her home dimension - he thought, the more he knew about it, the more chance he had of being able to bring Willow back. And, whilst everyone was fussing over what looked like Kinsey having a mental break down, it looked like this was going to be the best chance Daniel would get for a while.

The Airmen took her to the cells - which, since Caelus had broken a squad of Jaffa out of, had been substantially reinforced and no longer had the security camera within reach of the occupant - and once she was safely deposited inside, stood immobile on either side of the door.

Daniel walked up to them, and lied, saying "The General wants me to question her." Fortunately, despite having been given the order to imprison not-Willow, the Airmen were good soldiers, and followed the order, fake though it was.

Upon his entrance to the cell, Daniel asked without preamble "Your dimension, where is it? Is it on another plane, like the Ancients, is there any way to get there and bring Willow back, without forcing you to return and risk death?"

Not-Willow looked at him in surprise. "You've been there, Daniel, hundreds of times."

"What? I'm sure I would've noticed." Daniel replied drily, forgetting for a moment that he wasn't speaking to the real Willow.

"You cut through our dimension every time you use a Stargate. We come from the dimension your wormholes cut through to travel across the galaxy."

~*~

Author's note: according to the Stargate wiki, Kinsey is Senator of Indiana. I changed it so he's from California. As for the fanatic Christian bit, has no one ever noticed how he mentions God every chance he gets? The rest of it just followed for comedic effect.

Oh yes, about Willow being bisexual. Despite later on being exclusively lesbian, Willow's first crush and first relationship were both male. Anyway, I always considered her as bi.


	11. Chapter 11

Kinsey had been very reluctant to talk about what happened - understandably enough, considering he had seemed to have some kind of nervous breakdown - but Hammond had managed, after a handful of minutes, to coax the details out of him. It wasn't pleasant listening to Kinsey at the best of times, but when he was being sedated he was even worse.

Now Hammond was worried. Willow, or the creature that was inhabiting her (he wasn't sure - wasn't it possible that Willow could do that kind of illusion?) had made Kinsey see and hear precisely what she had wanted him to see and hear. Of course, Kinsey had menaced her first, and Willow hadn't actually hurt him, but still...

It occurred to him that they knew next to nothing about Willow, even from before putting on the armband. He'd rushed her into making the decision (not that he'd had to try very hard to convince her) before Janet had had a chance to examine how magic worked. Hammond regretted that now.

And they knew rather less about the creature inhabiting her now, other than the little it had told them - and they had no way of knowing if it was true.

~*~

Daniel, however, _did_ know more - or at least, after questioning not-Willow for nearly a quarter of an hour, he felt as though he did. He was sure that his questions were being answered truthfully, although, again, it could just be because she looked like Willow. And spoke like Willow. And moved like Willow. And was, in fact, physically identical to Willow.

They'd talked for some time about the nature of her - their home dimension, but Daniel hadn't really understood it. A dimension in which anything can be formed with a thought, unimaginable distances crossed in no time - in fact, a realm where time didn't exist in the same fashion as here. He couldn't contemplate what it would be like there - and he wondered how not-Willow hadn't been driven insane by the change.

He'd eventually gotten her around to talking about what she had done to Kinsey. Not-Willow said that, in a place where everything could be moulded by a thought, it had been an instinct to try that here. But she could only move small things, nothing larger than the atomic scale.

And she could open wormholes. To anywhere, seemingly. The entire time Daniel had been talking to her, not-Willow had been opening and closing tiny wormholes in the wall of her prison cell, the minute gashes they formed eventually resolving into an etching of a young man, one whom Daniel had never seen. It had been somewhat unnerving to watch, especially as she was talking to him the entire time - but then, Daniel supposed, a being composed of countless minds acting in unison could multitask pretty much anything.

Wormholes and the etching were the only things not-Willow hadn't been communicative about. Beyond saying that the wormholes cut through her home dimension, yet didn't exist inside it (although, Daniel thought, there'd be no need of them) she had said nothing. About the etching, she had said absolutely nothing, and every time he asked her about it (Daniel tried several times), not-Willow would clam up until he changed the subject. When the etching had been finished, she started a new one on the next wall.

Then they'd started talking about what she wanted, besides escaping the Darkness. And Daniel had been horrified when he found out.

"We do not understand your concept of time very well, but we believe that a period of ten thousand years to be sufficient before returning home. Willow will be returned to you at the conclusion of that time." said not-Willow, as though it was a perfectly reasonable request.

Daniel didn't blow up about that - he'd heard many ludicrous proposals during treaties with other planets - but instead tried to change her mind. "Humans don't live that long. Your body - Willow's body - will die of old age long before then."

"We have memories of such things, from Willow, but we do not understand. In any case, that does not apply to us. We are holding Willow's body in stasis - it will remain exactly as it is, until we leave it."

"How?" Daniel asked, then braced himself for an answer that probably only Sam would be qualified to understand.

"We do not know."

Daniel let that pass - although he wasn't going to be taking not-Willow's word for it, he'd ask Janet to check on her later - but it was understandable that the being wouldn't know how everything works in this dimension.

Daniel changed tack. "Wouldn't it be possible for you to transfer yourself to another body?" Daniel asked, thinking of Jacob Carter. There must be numerous people in similar situations who would seize this chance.

"Only a magic user can host us. We would burn up any normal body. And we would not subject our friends to this." not-Willow replied.

"Why not?" Daniel asked, thinking he might be getting through. If the being thought that transferring to one of Willow's friends was wrong, it might be convinced that staying in Willow was wrong too.

"Because Willow wouldn't wish us to." not-Willow replied, and wouldn't say anything more, merely sitting there whittling away at the second etching.

Well, Hammond ought to know about this. As Daniel left the cell to find the General and tell him what he'd just found out, two things hit him. Firstly not-Willow didn't have to negotiate with them - she could open a wormhole and leave at any time. So why was she still here? Secondly, and related to the first idea, he thought he might know a way to get Willow back.

~*~

"We need to get Willow back as quickly as possible." said Hammond, having just heard what Daniel had found out. Although not-Willow may be an asylum-seeker, the potential security risk of having an illusionist like that around - and one that'll be around for ten thousand years - was simply too great.

"Yeah, before Kinsey presses charges." said Jack drily.

"Anyway, that leads to how I think we can get Willow back - well, kind of." said Daniel.

"How?" asked Sam, having not heard anything in what Daniel had told them that sounded like a way of retrieving Willow. She could see that the others were just as clueless as she was on the matter.

"We know that the being could just open a wormhole and leave. We know that Willow is being held in the being's home dimension. And we know that we pass through that dimension every time we 'gate anywhere." said Daniel, ticking off the points on his fingers as he went.

Teal'c, who'd been watching the security footage from not-Willow's cell since he'd heard that she could escape at any time, said, without looking away, "You believe that if you put Willow's body through the Stargate, then Willow's mind will swap with that of the being inhabiting it currently."

"Would that work?" asked Hammond.

"Sir, I have no idea. This is well beyond any of our fields of expertise." Daniel answered frankly.

"But how would we get her through the 'gate? Once she realises what we're doing, she'll do to us what she did to Kinsey." pointed out Jack.

"I thought of that. Which is why I think that someone else needs to go through the 'gate, and come back, sharing a mind with Willow. And no, sir, I haven't got any idea if that's possible or if it would work, but it seems like the only chance we have." Daniel said.

"I'll go." Jack volunteered.

"Wait, what? I was going to. It's my idea, Jack." Daniel responded.

"Daniel, just how much weight do you think that argument has? Both Willow and I have the Ancient gene, and I've had experience having other stuff in my head from the Ancient repository. I think I'm the best choice." Jack said, categorically.

Before Daniel could come up with a no doubt flawed argument, Teal'c said "I believe Daniel Jackson should be the one to go." before swivelling the laptop with the security footage showing on it around to face everyone.

The second etching was complete. It showed, in great detail, the face of one Daniel Jackson.

"Doctor Jackson, you have a go." said Hammond.


	12. Chapter 12

Daniel didn't really take much time to prepare - after all, it would only be a trip to an uninhabited planet (they'd found a surprising amount of those over the years) and back. If Willow wasn't with him after that, then his idea was wrong, and he hadn't a clue as to why not-Willow wasn't leaving by wormhole.

Because of this, it only took him a minute or so to prepare. Hammond and Jack came to see him off - Teal'c was still glued to the security footage of not-Willow's cell, determined that a repeat of the Caelus fiasco wouldn't occur, and Sam wasn't ready to face Jack yet. She didn't know what to say to him about his declaration of love.

Now, even if Teal'c hadn't momentarily taken his eyes from the footage, to watch Daniel leave, we wouldn't have seen the infinitesimally small tensing of muscles of the prisoner the moment the 'gate activated.

~*~

Not-Willow sensed a wormhole being formed, and one person - Daniel - stepping through it. They wondered if it was just a routine operation, or if he'd somehow figured out what they'd been hiding from him.

They knew that Daniel, of all the available people, was the most likely that Willow would trust enough to share a body with - and unlike not-Willow, Willow didn't have the problem of only being able to be in the body of a magic user. Whilst not-Willow being present increased magical temperature, Willow herself would decrease it, allowing her to share with anyone.

Not-Willow regretted the moment of panic that had resulted in them exiling Willow back to their home dimension. The Darkness had been so close, and there was a similar darkness eating away at Willow. Fortunately, that should have been banished alongside Willow, returning to whichever plane it had originated from.

However, it was too late now. Willow would never trust them, not now that they had forced her out of her own body. Not-Willow had no choice but to wait to see if Daniel returned with Willow or not. If not, all well and good. If so - well, they'd have to make an escape.

~*~

When Daniel emerged from the wormhole onto the uninhabited planet, he felt a little different. It was hard to explain, but it seemed that he thought in a slightly different way - but then again, another part of him thought that he was thinking the same way he always had.

Still, Willow wasn't around. Hopefully she'd materialize after he'd returned home? Daniel dialled the DHD, noting as he did so that his left hand seemed take longer to do what he wanted it to do than usual. His right arm seemed fine, though.

After he had dialled home and sent through his identification code (Daniel thought it faintly ludicrous that he still had to do that, even though everyone knew he would be back in a couple of minutes.) Daniel limped through the 'gate, his left leg trailing behind his right one. Well, if his plan didn't work, he would most certainly be paying a visit to Janet when he got back.

However, when he stepped through the 'gate and into the ramp he'd walked down (and rolled down, fallen down, and on one memorable occasion, tripped over) he felt exactly the same as he always had.

That feeling lasted until he tried to walk forwards, and nearly fell over.

~*~

It was clear to everyone in the 'gate room and the overlooking observation room that Daniel wasn't quite himself. For starters, his right leg would take a step, and the left leg wouldn't follow suit, or vice versa. Then there were his arms, that looked like they were acting independently of each other - one groping like a blind man, the other wildly wind milling to help his balance.

However, it wasn't until both of Daniel's legs decided to take a step forward at the same time (a manoeuvre that had Jack in stitches, and even Teal'c watching in amusement) and promptly collapsed, to be helped up by a couple of Airmen that the most salient difference was revealed.

Daniel's right eye was the same pale blue it had always been, but the left eye belonged to someone else. The glittering green orb belonged to Willow.

The Airmen hauled Daniel upright in front of Hammond, who enquired solicitously "Doctor Jackson?"

Daniel answered using only the right side of his mouth, reminding Hammond of nothing so much as a person who had suffered a stroke of some kind. "Yes."

However, the other side of his mouth had a different idea. "Who are you calling Doctor Jackson? We look nothing alike. I'm Willow." And the oddest thing was, it was her voice, not Daniel's, which spoke.

~*~

Had Teal'c not been involved with the appearance of the Daniel-Willow hybrid, he would've seen not-Willow open a wormhole and step through it.

Not-Willow had formulated a plan during the handful of minutes Daniel had been gone - an advantage of being an organism formed of countless minds is that multitasking is easy, and as many minds could work on each individual plan and just as easily discard them.

They knew that, if they stayed here, it was only a matter of time before Daniel-Willow made their way down here and sent not-Willow back to their home dimension, to die. However, their knowledge of this universe was limited, Willow having spent all her life on the small town of Sunnydale. Which meant that their choices of places to run to was limited as well.

However, should they go to Sunnydale, they might be able to convince Buffy to protect them - no, that they were really Willow, and the SGC members were the ones possessed. Of course, that meant that they'd have to stop speaking in the plural. They could also tell Buffy what little they'd learned about the government and demons.

As not-Willow took a wormhole to Willow's room to get dressed (they - she, she reminded herself, not they - couldn't go to Sunnydale dressed as she was, she would be even more conspicuous than the commandos) and to pick up Willow's cell (dropping in on Buffy wouldn't be good - best to call ahead.) and then opened a wormhole to Angel's old mansion - the most abandoned place in Sunnydale she knew - she wondered idly how Buffy and Riley were getting on.

~*~

If truth be told, Buffy and Riley weren't getting on. That is what tends to happen when both members of a relationship, even as slow as they were taking it, find out that the other member had been keeping secrets from them. And in this case, learning that both of them hunted demons and vampires was kind of a big secret to find out.

They'd both met in the Gentlemen's (the creepy floating demons who stole voices and hearts) tower to try and stop them before they got the hearts they needed, and returned the voices to everyone in the town.

They had managed to do so, but, as they sat opposite each other in Buffy's dorm - which had been empty since Willow had moved out. Which reminded Buffy that Riley didn't actually know where Willow had gone. - it seemed as though there voices were still stolen. What do you say in such circumstances?

Fortunately, Buffy was rescued from the awkward silence by her cell ringing - she was lucky she had it with her, and on too. The Hellmouth seemed to wreak havoc with technology. Or maybe that was just remnants of Moloch floating around. She checked to see who was calling, and wasn't unduly surprised to see it was Willow. If it was anyone else, even Xander, they'd feel no qualms in just dropping in to see her.

"You'd better take that." said Riley, a note of relief tingling his voice. He wanted to have this conversation about as much as Buffy did - which was to say, not at all.

"Thanks." Buffy said gratefully, stepping outside into the corridor - leaving Riley no chance to escape. Once outside, Buffy said into her cell. "Hiya Willow, how are you doing? You'll never guess what just happened -"

"Buffy, do you mind if w- I speak to you? In person? I've kind of got a problem, and I need to speak to you about it." Willow cut her off. Buffy, even as caught up in Riley-problems as she was, could hear the note of urgency in Willow's voice.

"Yes, of course, but aren't you in Colorado?" Buffy asked, bemused.

"No. Can you meet me at Giles' in, say, 20 minutes? Bring Xander if you can. Oh, and Spike." Willow replied flatly. Buffy was about to say more, but Willow had cut the line. Which meant she must really be nervous about something - Buffy had never known Willow not to babble when she was scared about something, so she didn't want to know what was so scary that had gotten Willow acting so terse.

Buffy popped her head back into her room, saying to Riley "Something's come up, I've got to go." she only had time to see Riley nod gratefully and murmur something before she dashed off to Xander's - she'd have to hurry if she wanted to get to Giles' on time. As for Spike, she had to hope he was there, or with Giles. Since he had volunteered to help with that Carlos thing (Buffy loved getting names wrong, the face Giles made whenever she did was totally worth it) and hadn't even tried to kill anyone, they had given Spike some leeway. Of course, he still had to check in (and to everyone's great surprise, he did) but what he did with his nights was his affair. It's not like he was hurting anyone.

Anyway, that didn't matter, Willow needed her. And if it got her out of an uncomfortable conversation with Riley, so much the better.


	13. Chapter 13

While Buffy was off picking up Xander, Spike was busy at Giles' house. Now, although all the Scoobies who hadn't either gone off to LA or joined a top secret military organization (and Xander would contest whether it not Angel could even be counted as a Scooby in the first place) would be surprised that Spike was sticking around, now that they were no longer keeping him tied up, there was a simple reason for it.

Firstly, Spike hadn't gone because those blasted demons stole his voice, and he wanted to get it back. If he left, who knew when that might happen? However, he didn't actually try to get it back, he left Buffy to do that. No, Spike was off on a quest of his own. And that was all tied into the second reason he hadn't left.

The first part of Spike's quest was to get a mobile (he refused to Americanize himself and call it a cell), which was a lot harder than it sounded. He'd tried to steal one, but either the Gentlemen had stolen the voice of the dogs guarding the phone shop, or they were just silent dogs, but they'd savaged him a little before he could escape. So, the next day, Spike had broken down and actually bought one.

The second part was to actually figure out how it worked. Now, Spike, unlike his grand-sire, was no technophobe. He knew how to work a computer well enough, but he'd never _needed_ a mobile before - everyone he'd ever wanted to contact he'd usually be living with, and if he wanted minions, he'd just walk into the nearest demon bar and pick them.

Which boiled down to why he was in Giles' house in the first place. Now that Spike had gotten his voice back, he was trying to get Giles to tell him how his mobile worked - he thought Giles was simply being obtuse, because how could anyone who wasn't dead (or undead) not know how to use a mobile in this day and age?

The question was, why did Spike need a mobile now? The answer, surprisingly enough, was Samantha Carter. There was something about her that appealed to him, somehow - and not as a meal. Spike wondered if that was how Drusilla felt before she sired him. And, apparently, she felt attracted to him too, hence the need for a mobile, which led him to be in Giles house when Willow arrived, Buffy and Xander close at her heels.

Now, Willow hadn't said anything to her two teenage friends yet (and Buffy hadn't mentioned Riley) so it was understandable when the moment the group was together that Buffy would turn to get friend and give the order "So, dish." Buffy wasn't renowned for patience.

Spike fought the urge to say "Plate." in response - bloody colonials butchering the language - and settled for saying "Red? Why're you here?", mainly because he was too shy to ask "Is Sam here?" because, after all, he barely knew the woman.

Buffy and Xander both glared at him (Giles seemed distracted, no doubt by Willow's sudden arrival that everyone had forgotten to warn him about, and Willow - well, Willow just seemed a little nervous).

Xander, catching Giles' bemused look, quickly filled him in with the little they'd garnered from Willow since they'd bumped into her coming here. "She's got something to tell us, Giles. No, we don't know what it is."

Willow seemed ready to speak. "Okay, guys, a couple of things. Firstly, the SGC seems to be under the control of some kind of alien - I seem to be immune, probably because of my magic - and they're hunting me down. I don't know what they're planning on doing to me, but when they come, they'll say I'm possessed, not them. Buffy, don't interrupt. Secondly, those commandos who captured Spike? Government. Guess who's involved? Senator Kinsey."

Buffy, having been told not to interrupt to ask for more details, settled for asking "Who's Kinsey?", a question which both Xander and Giles echoed.

Willow rolled her eyes. "Am I the only one who keeps up with politics here? Kinsey is the Senator for California. I don't like him, I think he's shady."

Spike quite agreed. He didn't want to go into detail about all the rumours he'd heard about the lengths the man had gone to win his campaign - he'd even heard that he'd been supported by Wolfram & Hart, which he rather doubted.

But, anyway, that wasn't the only thing that interested Spike (well, it didn't interest him exactly, but it did give more credence to the rumours he had heard) because, when Willow had mentioned the SGC being possessed, he'd taken an instinctive breath, the first for a while now. And he was smelling something odd.

"You're sure you're not possessed?" Spike asked Willow bluntly.

"_Spike._" Buffy said indignantly, glaring at him again.

Spike ignored her, and carried on addressing Willow. "It's just that you don't smell entirely human, you see."

Now, Spike had better hearing than the average vampire, and he had done ever since he was sired. He suspected it came from being a close relation to the Master, whose bat-like ears had to have been good for something. Anyway, he heard Willow's heart beat suddenly speed up, as might be the case when someone's about to be discovered - but then, just as suddenly, slowed down again to its normal rate.

Unbeknownst to him, the pluralistic entity currently in control of Willow's body had a far greater grasp of how to consciously operate it than Willow herself did. That's not to say that it didn't still do things automatically - she didn't need to think to blink, for example - but it was a simple matter to slow down the heart again to avoid suspicion, whilst cursing herself for forgetting Spike's vampiric senses.

However, fortunately for her, Spike was interrupted from revealing this by a knock on the door, which Giles, it being his house, got up to answer.

Upon opening the door, Giles was welcomed by the sight of someone he'd rather hoped never to see again.

"Hello, Ripper old boy, mind if I come in?" said Ethan Rayne jollily.

~*~

Hammond and the members of SG-1 who were all staring at Daniel (even Daniel was staring at Daniel, courtesy of the mirror someone had thoughtfully provided him with. He looked strange - although he thought he looked rather distinguished with heterochromia).

Willow, upon seeing herself (well, Daniel's face, but with her eye in it) had taken it calmly, which inspired the others to take in their stride to (or try to, they still couldn't stop staring).

The first thing Willow said upon seeing her new situation was "Okay, not in my own body then. Shame." then she giggled, watching only half of Daniel's mouth move. She still felt like she was in her own body, rather than sharing Daniel's, which was odd. Especially given the several fundamental differences between the two bodies.

Daniel also still felt like himself, he just couldn't control half of his body. Although having someone else's eye in his face was very odd - Willow's eyesight was far better than his, so with his glasses on he couldn't see through it, but without them he couldn't see through his. He wondered how it was that they could see through both eyes but only use half a mouth.

Sam finally managed to speak. "So, are you Daniel or are you Willow?" she asked, aflame with curiosity.

They finally managed to act in synchronization - the pair hadn't even managed to walk into the room by themselves, Airmen had had to help them - and hearing two voices emerge from one mouth was extremely disconcerting. "Yes." they answered.

"You walked right into that one, Sam." Jack said, smiling. Then he turned serious again, turning to the pair. "Willow, do you know what's been happening?" he asked. Willow nodded (or tried to - moving only half a neck didn't really work out. Jack got the idea though) Daniel having mentally sent to her all the pertinent information already (it seemed as though their minds weren't wholly separate). "So, do you have any idea where she - they might have gone?"

Daniel had no idea, but Willow did. "If she's thinking like me, she would've gone to Sunnydale, tried to get my friends to help her. Probably she - or is it they? Blast it, I'm sticking with she - would most likely have lied to them - told them that we were possessed, not her."

"If she's gone to Sunnydale, I'm calling in the military." Hammond declared.

"Why?" asked Jack "We didn't need them before when we went there."

"Because it's their jurisdiction, Colonel." Hammond replied.

"It's those commandos we keep seeing around, isn't it? The ones that kidnapped Spike." Willow surmised.

"Wait, Spike's been kidnapped?" Sam said, surprised.

"Remember, I told you this. He got kidnapped and had a chip put in his head to stop him hurting people." Willow answered.

"Anyway, I'm going to put in some calls, let them know about the situation over there. Meanwhile, get there as soon as you can." Hammond said.

Jack leaned forward eagerly. "Does that mean I get to fly us there? It would probably take too long to go commercially anyway, sir." he said.

"Very well. I'll organize a plane for you too. Now, go and get ready - I suggest civilian clothes, you'll want to stand out as little as possible." Hammond agreed.

Obviously dismissed, the group got up and left, Willow and Daniel already arguing - although they were managing to walk. It seemed they could do that as long as they didn't pay attention to doing so.

"Close your eyes while I get changed, alright?" Daniel said.

"I can't, they're your eyes too. Unless you can change with your eyes closed. And one handed." Willow replied, her half of Daniel's mouth curving up into a smile. "We'll just have to work it out while we go along."

~*~

Jack had just finished getting ready when there was a knock on his door. "Come in!" he called.

Sam came in, eyes roving, looking everywhere but at him. "Umm... Sir, about what you said..." she trailed off, stuck for words.

"Forget about it." Jack said roughly.

"No, I wanted to tell you... I love you too. But we can't, you know, regulations and all that, and what if we get captured? And I won't have you dying for me, Jack. So, umm, we can't do anything about it." Sam mumbled incoherently.

"I know."

"Just so we're clear."

~*~

Jack loved flying, but since he had joined the Stargate program, he hadn't done it near as much as he would like - and being held captive on a spaceship didn't count. Which was why he had probably flown a little faster, and with a few more aerial manoeuvres, than were strictly necessary.

Teal'c and Sam hadn't minded, both being veterans of their own kind of aircraft, but Daniel would probably have been horribly sick had it not been for Willow, who, to her great surprise, enjoyed the trip immensely.

As it was, when the plane landed in a little airstrip just outside of Sunnydale (who knew that had been there?) it was all Daniel could do not to collapse and kiss the ground. In fact, he probably would've had Willow not been keeping half his body upright.

Daniel's queasiness wasn't helped when he saw the three-person welcoming committee. He didn't know two thirds of it, but he wasn't unduly surprised at the third member. After all, this was a top secret military operation, what possible reason could there be for Colonel Harry Maybourne _not_ to be involved?

Willow, however, did know the other two people, and they did surprise her. She would never have expected her psychology professor to be a part of the commandos that kept popping up all over Sunnydale. Nor, for that matter, Riley Finn.

Willow wondered if Buffy knew.


	14. Chapter 14

Buffy had Ethan pinned against the wall in a heartbeat, and even Spike, who had never met the man, had to admire her reaction times, even if he did wonder what the he had done to merit such an assault.

"What do you want?" asked Giles through gritted teeth.

"Would you mind calling her off, Ripper? Only I still need to breathe, and it's getting rather difficult." said Ethan in a strangled voice. When Giles didn't respond, Ethan sighed, instantly regretted expelling so much breath, and said "It's about the Stargate program. And the Initiative."

Giles didn't even have to say "Let him go." to Buffy, because she'd already done so. Instead, he settled for asking "What do you know about the Stargate? And what's the Initiative?"

Ethan paused in the act of straightening his clothing. "So you know about the Stargate, then." he said, surprised. Everyone nodded - not that Ethan was paying attention to everyone, he seemed to be looking only at Giles, and had been doing so ever since his arrival. "Well, that'll shave a bit off my story." Ethan said.

"Oh please, can you just tell us what you know already?" said Xander impatiently. On the offhand he didn't, then there was always the chance Buffy would beat Ethan up a little, and seeing as how it didn't look like that was going to happen to Spike any time soon, it just looked like Xander would have to settle.

"No, not really. I've got to tell the whole story so you understand." said Ethan, glancing at Xander briefly as though sizing him up before returning his gaze to Giles. "So, Rupert, can I tell my story, the one that I've come a very long way to tell, or should I just leave?" Ethan asked, clearly hoping to be permitted to stay.

"Well, as tempting as the possibility of you leaving is, we could probably do with your information." said Giles slowly, and was rewarded by a dazzling smile.

"Okay then. So, Ripper, as you know, I'm a devotee of Janus - who, besides being god of chaos, is also god of doorways. Now, a few years back, I noticed a sudden, massive discharge of energy - someone was opening a doorway, and there is only a few of us strong enough to do that, and I know for a fact that it wasn't any of us.

But it never happened again, so I forgot all about it, until it started up again about four years ago or so, when the same discharge happened again. And again. And again. On an almost daily basis, something's been opening doorways somewhere."

"The Stargate program." Buffy interrupted helpfully. Ethan scowled at her before continuing his story.

"Yes. Now, unfortunately I was contracted to this bloke over in Haiti at the time - you know that's how I make my living, right, contracting my magic to the highest bidder? - so I couldn't just up sticks and go investigate.

Fortunately, my contract got terminated rather abruptly a couple of years back - my employer got killed by zombies. Not a lot I can do against them, nasty little buggers. Anyway, so I came over to Sunnydale to see if my old pal Ripper was really on the straight and narrow, like the rumours say."

"There are rumours about me?" Giles couldn't help but ask.

Ethan smirked. "Of course there are, you're the active Watcher! Even if you did get fired. Anyway, the worshippers of Moloch are really pissed at you for killing him, and there are whole tribes of demons out for your blood." he said, and Giles couldn't stop himself from beaming.

"Hey, I killed Moloch! Well, I got him to electrocute himself, but still." said Buffy indignantly.

"That's not the way the rumours tell it. So, as I was saying, I came to Sunnydale and did that little spell on Halloween. Now, if Rupert had been... like he was in the old days, he'd have joined in the fun. But he didn't. I can't say I wasn't disappointed, but I prepared to cut my losses and go investigate by myself.

That was when the Mayor caught up to me and gave me an offer I couldn't refuse - get paid a retainer by him, so my spells would be at his service, or die. So, naturally, I joined him, did that lovely spell on those candy bars, and left when you so elegantly blew him to smithereens.

Which, finally, left me with enough time to go and investigate the Stargate program - although I didn't know what it was then.

So, anyway, I headed up to Colorado to find that whatever was opening the doorways was deep in a military base. I was waiting until I had an opportunity until I could lure away one of the guards and take enough of his blood to disguise myself as him - particularly nasty spell, that one - when I was captured."

"Then how come the military doesn't know all about magic?" Willow asked thoughtfully. Ethan started when she spoke, then looked at her intently for a few moments before he answered.

"I didn't say the military captured me. No, it was some blasted mage from Wolfram & Hart."

None of the teenagers knew what that was, but both Giles and Spike looked at the other man with new eyes. Few survived such an encounter. Spike was beginning to wish he'd had Ethan around back when he had been the terror of Sunnydale.

"What happened?" asked Giles eagerly, then pretended to have an air of nonchalance when Ethan smirked at him amusedly.

"At first, I was pretty sure he wanted to kill me, but then something changed the mage's mind. He said, in return for him telling me everything about the Stargate program, I had to help him with something. I agreed - I was fairly certain he would kill me if I said no.

So Vail - that was the mage's name, Cyvus Vail- told me all about it, making it clear that his company had someone on the inside feeding them information. Then he told me something about another organization, the Demonic Research Initiative, based here in Sunnydale. Apparently they've been experimenting on demons. He said that there was something going on there that even their mole couldn't find out beyond a number - 314 - and ordered me to go and find out what it was.

That's the story. Do you want to help me or not?" Ethan finished.

However, everyone was spared the opportunity to answer when Anya slipped in through Giles's door - Giles berated himself for not closing and locking it - took a look at the stranger in the room and said "Hello, Ethan."

~*~

"Maybourne." said Jack bluntly, glaring at the other man.

"Hello, Jack." Maybourne said peaceably.

"You mistook that for a greeting. Let me rephrase - what the hell are you doing here, Maybourne?" Jack replied, trying to keep his temper. There was something about the man that made him want to hit something, and that thing ended up being Maybourne a lot less often than he would've liked.

"The same thing you are, I expect. Kinsey called, ordered me to come here and use whatever force necessary to bring back the thing that attacked him. He doesn't really care if it's dead or alive." Maybourne answered.

Daniel had to restrain himself from saying anything - unlike the other people here, Maybourne actually knew him, and would notice if he only spoke out of the corner of his mouth. In fact, he was lucky he hadn't noticed his different coloured eye. Yet.

However, Sam took it upon herself to say something. "She's a she, not an it, and anyway, it was self-defence. And Willow's possessed, not evil, so no lethal force."

If Willow had been in possession if her own body, or even nearer Sam, she would've kicked the woman. It wasn't her fault, and they probably already knew it was her anyway, but had Sam really needed to mention her name?

Riley picked up on it "I'm sorry, did you say Willow?" he asked, surprised. Of course, it could be another Willow, but just how likely would that be, knowing his luck? After all, if Buffy hunted demons, why couldn't Willow be possessed by aliens? And why didn't he have a problem with the existence of extra-terrestrial life?

"Why, do you know her?" asked Jack. When Riley looked reluctant to answer, he said "Look, I know I'm not an Army colonel, but I still outrank you, and you could consider that an order to tell me."

"Yes, I know a Willow. Little, slim thing, red hair, green eyes, about yay high. But that can't be who you're looking for." But Riley could tell from their expressions that yes, that was exactly who they were looking for.

"Well, crap." Riley said. Just when he thought his day couldn't get any weirder, he got orders to hunt down the best friend of his potential love interest.


	15. Chapter 15

Ethan looked Anya up and down briefly, clearly trying to place her. Finally, giving up, he says "Do I know you?"

Anya gestured at her face, saying "Oh, I was veinier the last time we met."

Ethan's face lights up with understanding "Ah, you're Anyanka. So, got out of the demon game, I see. How's that working for you?"

"Oh, quite well, actually. And it's Anya now. Still cursing people?" Anya asked, strangely polite.

"Yeah, when I have the free time. I'm kind of busy at the moment, although I've got this project in the wo-" Ethan began.

Giles interrupted "You two know each other?" As far, as he knew, the pair had never met, but then he didn't know everything about Anya's pre-demon days. Although he did wonder what Ethan wanted with the patron demon of scorned lovers.

"Oh yes, he summoned me, hmm, about two years ago or so? Lovely curse it was too, one of the most inventive ones I've seen. It was such a shame when you decided to cancel it." Anya said, a little callously.

"Who did you curse?" Giles asked, unable to hide his curiosity on the matter.

Ethan didn't answer, and Anya just looked at him appraisingly before saying "No, I don't think you want to know." then paused, and for once amended her statement "I mean, demon-curser confidentiality." Ethan shrugged sheepishly behind her, afraid Anya had given the game away.

"Yes, yes" said Buffy, getting back to business "all this catching up is all very well and good, but should we trust him?" she said, unusually opening the decision to the floor so that others could have a say. For herself, she had already made a decision - she wanted to find out as much about Riley's organization as possible, whether by Ethan's hands or by herself. Buffy didn't think for a moment that Riley would volunteer everything, if their conversation (or lack of it) this morning was anything to go by. Besides, Buffy certainly wouldn't tell an outsider everything about the way she worked, not straight away, at least.

"Well, I'd like to know more about those blokes that put a chip in my head, for one." said Spike, having watched the little Ethan-Anya-Giles interlude with amusement.

"Surprisingly enough, I'm with Spike on this one." said Giles hesitatingly. Ethan grinned briefly before remembering to look solemn.

"I'm cool with the demon-hunter hunting. Not so cool on costume-man, but then if Spike here gets to play along, I can hardly complain about Giles' buddy too, can I?" Xander put in.

Anya said brightly "I have no idea what you're talking about, having missed a large portion of the conversation, but as everyone else seems to be doing it, I'll go along with it."

Willow merely said "Sure." because she wasn't keen on the whole idea - Ethan might find out too much about her, but she could hardly say no now, could she? Besides, Willow would always have the chance to obfuscate any findings they might have.

Buffy, pleased that everyone had agreed with what she would've done anyway, said "Well it looks like we're all in agreement."

Ethan looked at her, trying in vain to completely smooth away the wolfish smile playing around his mouth. "You speak for all of them?" he asked "You speak for Ripper, Anyanka, Spike, Willow, yourself and that bloke I can't quite remember the name of?"

Giles wondered briefly why Ethan was taking such pains to spell everything out, then realised. He made to shout "Buffy, don't!" but was just slightly too late to say it before Buffy said "Xander. Yes, I speak for all of them."

Ethan grinned openly now, all need to gain the Scoobies acceptance gone. A slim, razor sharp blade materialized in his palm - whether by magic or sleight of hand, it was impossible to tell - which with a rapid motion he sliced across the back of Buffy's hand. The slight pressure it took to break her skin was enough for the double-edged blade to break his skin too, causing an intermingling of their blood.

Ethan shivered, saying "Woo, Slayer blood. Quite the rush."

Buffy shivered too, but for different a reason. Just for a split second, she had understood Ethan's point of view - he didn't cast his spells because he liked hurting people, although there was certainly an element of that. No, he did it because it was _fun_ - so much more fun than toiling away as a servant of the Light. It was only for a moment, but Buffy finally understood where Faith had gone so wrong. Then the moment was over, and she shivered to try and shake herself of the feeling.

Then she hit Ethan, in the stomach. Buffy wasn't going to let anyone cast some creepy mojo on her and get away with it.

Well, Buffy tried to hit Ethan. It didn't quite work out the way she wanted it to. Somehow, her punch slid off to one side, slamming into the wall instead of Ethan. She wound back her arm to try again, but Giles caught her elbow, murmuring to her "Don't. He's cast a protection spell."

Ethan nodded, evidently pleased with himself. "Oh yes. And a lovely bit of spell work it is too. Of course, it'll only last a few days - two or three - but during that time, you can't hurt me, and I can't hurt you."

"Get out." said Giles, imperiously. He was crazy to have thought that Ethan would ever be trustworthy.

Ethan simulated a hurt expression which everyone could tell he didn't feel. "Now, now, Ripper, don't go throwing me out before I go and tell you that Willow here isn't who she claims to be. Or even _what_ she claims to be." he said, triumphantly.

Willow followed her instincts and opened a wormhole beneath her feet. Or tried to - like Buffy's punch only moments before, it didn't go quite as she had planned it. Nervous, her heart beat sped up again, and Spike grinned at having his earlier hunch that everyone had shouted down proved right. But Willow slowed it down again, with rather more effort than it had taken last time.

However, the other people in the room who didn't have such finely tuned senses burst into uproar, saying many variations on "She can't possibly be someone else! I mean, look, she's Willow!" (well, except for Anya, who merely said "I thought there was something odd about Willow", but she was drowned out amongst the din.)

Ethan wasn't paying much attention to their outcries - as a devotee of Janus, he obviously had some facility with transportation magic - and the blocking thereof (even when the transportation wasn't, strictly speaking, magical in nature). It was taking a surprising amount of concentration and effort to stop Willow from opening a wormhole and running away. He tried not to let the strain show on his face - if Willow saw how difficult it was for him to stop her from opening one gateway, how could he stop her if she tried several at once?

Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in entirely keeping the strain hidden - Willow saw it, and deciding that her babbling friends would make a nice distraction, was just about to open as many wormholes as she could - which would have the added benefit of leaving them with no idea which one she'd gone through - when she was interrupted by SG-1 bursting through the door.

Giles really needed a better lock.


	16. Chapter 16

"May I ask how a student of mine ended up being involved with you?" asked Walsh, politely, although she'd definitely be having words with Riley about his unprofessional conduct. She wondered what had gotten into him - he'd been off all day.

"That would be classified." Jack replied smugly, glad to get to use an answer he so rarely had the chance to. Then he processed the fact that Walsh had just called Willow a student of hers, but decided to save it for later. He had no doubt that Willow had no clue that Walsh was part of the Initiative - and one surreptitious look at Willow's half of Daniel's face was enough to prove that.

"Can we get back to business now?" whined Maybourne in a pained voice. Willow, despite having never met him, gritted her teeth - despite being a normally peaceable person, the man just got on her nerves.

"Of course." Walsh responded, deferring to the military on the matter. "Where do you think she might've gone?" Willow almost wanted to thank her for calling her "she", rather than an "it", although of course she knew that her body wasn't a "she", and was in fact a "them" - and promptly gave herself and Daniel a shared headache by getting herself so confused.

However, that didn't stop her from sending across to Daniel, in the curious mode of communication they had, where _she_ would've gone if she were, well, herself. And not-Willow certainly did seem to be thinking like her. And she also told Daniel _not_ to tell them that, because she didn't want commandos shooting at her body. Surprisingly.

Daniel decided to risk Maybourne calling him out on his eye and half functioning mouth. "We think that she will have gone to ground, staying away from everyone she knows. As I'm sure you're aware, Sunnydale has an insane amount of hideaways, and Willow, as a native, would know a fair amount of them." he said, just as Willow had told him. Maybourne glanced at him once as he spoke, but then quickly looked back, examining his eye curiously, but fortunately not saying anything.

Walsh turned to Riley, quickly ordering him to send out search teams to all the deserted areas they knew of, and to send others out of uniform everywhere else. Maybourne, though, still examining Daniel's face intently, just said "I'll join Jack - Colonel O'Neill's team, if that's alright by you, Professor, Colonel?". Both nodded, Jack with extreme reluctance. He could hardly say no, could he? And even if he did, Maybourne could just take another team and follow him anyway.

"Alright, team, let's head that way." Jack said grandly, pointing in a direction he'd chosen arbitrarily. Daniel's left hand rose to his mouth as he coughed gently, the hand just happening to be pointing in an entirely different direction. "I meant that way, of course." he amended, prompting an amused snort from Maybourne.

The team set off, and the fact that Teal'c closely shadowed Maybourne, keeping an eye on him far more than on where they were going, was purely coincidental. It couldn't have been because Teal'c didn't trust him, surely not.

Seemingly oblivious, Maybourne sidled up to Daniel - and Willow was glad he came from the right, so he was slightly farther away. Something about him made her skin crawl - and asked "Have some kind of mishap, Jackson?"

Daniel was about to rattle off the fairly standard excuse of "alien technology" when Willow sent across a more detailed fabrication. Well, the details maketh the lie. "We were on a planet recently that had a machine that was supposed to fix eyesight - the demonstration on a native was quite compelling - so I thought I'd give it a go. Unfortunately, either it doesn't work on humans, or because of something I've been exposed to, but it didn't quite work out the way it was supposed to. Janet – Dr Frasier says it'll only be temporary though."

As soon as he caught the wry glance Maybourne gave him after finishing, Daniel knew he should've gone with his original lie - Maybourne knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't normally give up so much information, and now he was suspicious. Well, given that this was Maybourne, more suspicious.

Fortunately, Willow had been formulating an idea to get rid of him before they got to Giles' house (where else would someone thinking like Willow go to feel safe?). It involved a spell she'd been researching back when they had trusted Spike even less, and they hadn't wanted to leave him tied up all the time - there was always the chance of an escape. It essentially created a labyrinth that existed only for the subject of the spell, making it impossible for, in that case, Spike to get anywhere.

Unfortunately, she hadn't managed to get it to work successfully yet - the last few times Willow had tried it, she had gotten hopelessly lost herself, which was no mean feat when you do it in a kitchen. It had taken Giles about half an hour to unravel it last time.

However, thanks to her recent experiences of possession and whatnot, Willow thought she realised what the missing part of the spell that shifted it from the caster to the object. So she began muttering the spell under her breath - to Daniel's growing alarm and nausea - before trying to turn so as to come into physical contact with Maybourne. With the unfortunate side effect of making Daniel's body nearly fall over, she succeeded, slamming into Maybourne's shoulder the instant she realised the spell.

After spending several seconds with arms wind milling, Willow/Daniel found that the spell had worked (well, Willow did. Daniel had no idea what was going on) when Maybourne suddenly veered off into a side street. Teal'c contemplated going after him, but after seeing Willow's triumphant grin and correctly surmising what had just happened, decided against it.

Willow quickly filled in the other bemused members of the team as they walked the final few minutes to Giles' (once again thanking the fact that in Sunnydale, everything was next to everything else, even secret military airstrips.)

They reached the door of Giles' house soon after the sun went down, and were glad they hadn't been set upon by vamps. Whilst Sam picked the lock (and Jack, after getting over his amazement that she knew how to do that, gently teased her about it) Willow and Daniel prepared for a synchronised sprint so they could tackle not-Willow before she escaped by wormhole.

Perhaps it was because none of them were looking for it, but no one, not even the wary Teal'c, noticed Maybourne stealthily creep his way through the bushes.

~*~

Oz was in his trusty truck, which he had driven many, many miles across several continents, when he saw the signpost telling him that Sunnydale was ten miles ahead. He looked up, through his windscreen, at the setting sun, glad that he no longer needed to lock himself up in the cage in the back of his truck. Not even though it was a full moon tonight.

He wondered for the umpteenth time what Willow was doing right now.


	17. Chapter 17

After Sam managed to pick Giles' lock, Daniel and Willow broke into a concerted shambling run, which was more like a sustained falling forward than the sprint that they had hoped for. Still, it was faster than walking would've been, and such was the shock of the assembled Scoobies that none of them tried to stop what they saw as drunk Daniel staggering towards them.

Unfortunately, their plan to tackle not-Willow before she escaped wasn't entirely successful. Sure, they went speedily blundering in the right direction, and should've collided with their target, but somehow not-Willow, with a singularly grateful movement, spun out of the way, and Daniel and Willow collapsed to the floor.

Of course, the Scoobies who witnessed what they still thought was Willow's unusually athletic dodge, immediately suspected that Ethan, as untrustworthy as he might be, had told them the truth. Willow wasn't spectacularly clumsy, but she had been known to have difficulty walking across flat surfaces before, and they very much doubted she could do what they had just seen her do.

So, not-Willow, correctly guessing that her cover was blown, saw no reason not to enact her earlier plan. She opened several wormholes at once - less than she would've liked, thanks to Ethan's interference - and dove through one. Ethan stared, blinking, at the spot where she had been standing for several seconds, an inscrutable expression on his face, before shaking his head and looking away.

At that point, Xander voiced the opinions of the Scoobies. "Okay, what the hell is going on?"

~*~

It didn't take Jack long to fill everyone in on the rudiments of what had happened - he didn't try to explain everything just yet, not while not-Willow was still on the loose - and was mildly surprised at the utter lack of questions and interruptions, although that could've had something to do with the glowering Teal'c at his shoulder.

However, Xander was still confused - which, as Cordelia would no doubt have pointed out, wasn't unusual for him - so he asked "So, if Willow isn't Willow, where is Willow? And no, I'm not trying to see how many times I can fit Willow into one sentence." he finished, catching Buffy's amused glance.

Jack hadn't covered that, if only because it still mildly creeped him out, so the man that the Scoobies still thought was Daniel alone waved his left hand, saying in a voice exactly like Willow's "I'm in here, Xander."

Of course, this created many outcries of shock from everyone (besides Ethan, whose magical senses had already led him to suspect it, and Spike, who, during the few seconds he hadn't been covertly watching Sam, had noticed the green eye and that half of Daniel stood in way remarkably similar to how Willow normally did) before Willow quieted them with another gesture, saying "Okay guys, yes it's miraculous and all that, but can we go and get my body back? And no, Xander, I'm not going to answer any of your questions about what it's like sharing a man's body." Xander sighed theatrically.

"She went that way." said Ethan helpfully, vaguely waving a hand. "Not very far, either."

"How do you know?" asked Daniel, the ever-curious. Willow quickly told him mentally who Ethan was, and so Daniel continued saying "Okay, I don't really want to know. Although Willow would like to know why you're here." Willow poked his arm, annoyed that he'd asked something she'd only speculated about. Daniel retaliated, and everyone burst out laughing at the sight of Daniel having a poke fight with himself.

After recovering, Giles said "Long story." before turning to Ethan and asking him "Is there any way you can find a more precise location?"

"Of course. With several hours, my equipment and a really complicated spell." Ethan answered witheringly.

"My house is that way. It should be empty at the moment, my parents are away." Willow said thoughtfully.

A spasm of surprise flitted across Ethan's face before he said "Really? Well, I can do a spell that'll get us there quickly, hopefully before she moves on."

"Just what does this spell entail?" Giles asked him suspiciously.

Ethan gave him an innocent look. "Oh, not much. Something made of gold - not alloyed or plated - and about three minutes or so. And a drop of blood, from each of you."

Willow forestalled the cries of "No way!" by saying "Guys, we don't have a choice." Everyone agreed, rather reluctantly. Like a conjuror (which he in fact was) Ethan produced a slim knife, which he passed to Buffy (thanks to his earlier protection charm, he was unable to cut her himself) while Giles hunted for something gold, which he promptly found.

Giles passed a little gold statue of cat to Ethan, somewhat sheepishly. Ethan looked at it in amusement before passing it back and asking everyone to smear their blood on it before giving it to him, which they did.

Ethan stared intently at the blood-smeared cat statue, which had now taken on a decidedly macabre appearance. Slowly, the cat became an amorphous blob of red-streaked gold, which gradually coalesced into a magnificently ornate boat with a falcon head prow. Abruptly, the boat expanded, filling the room with an insubstantial boat - insubstantial, that is, except to the physical touch. It was slightly translucent, and had absolutely no trouble passing through several chairs and a table, but not through anyone living (or, in Spike's case, dead).

His voice audibly straining, as though lifting an incredible weight, Ethan snapped commandingly "Get in the boat!" Everyone looked at it dubiously, before Spike shrugged and leapt in, to his mild surprise not passing straight through the bottom. Loath to be shown up by a vampire, Xander followed suit, and then everyone poured in.

Ethan grinned wolfishly "Alright then, your journey will take twelve minutes. Or twelve seconds. Something along those lines, anyway. Don't try to leave the boat - you won't be able to. Be seeing you!" he said cheerily, all sign of strain vanishing from his voice. Buffy tried to lunge at him, but crashed into an invisible barrier around the edge of the ship. Then, with an almighty lurch, the ship took off - right through the ceiling. The screams were deafening - or would've been, had anyone outside the ship been able to hear them.

Congratulating himself on a lovely bit of spell work, Ethan turned to the spot where not-Willow had been standing before she escaped. "They're gone now, you can show yourself." he said, addressing the empty spot.

The air wavered, and not-Willow was revealed.

~*~

From the bushes outside Giles' house, Maybourne watched the translucent golden boat rise into the sky. Technically, he shouldn't have been able to see it (only the caster and the people inside the ship should be able to see it), but he wouldn't be much good as an inside man for Wolfram & Hart if he couldn't see everything going on, could he? Or, for that matter, if he fell prey to every misdirection spell he came across.

He wondered what Ethan's endgame was - not that it mattered, unduly. If Ethan didn't accomplish what he'd been sent here to do, Vail could most certainly destroy him. Not that that was any of Maybourne's concern, he was just here to capture the creature inhabiting Willow's body, dead or alive. Kinsey didn't much care which.

But if the creature just happened to wind up at a Wolfram & Hart office first...

On that note, Maybourne headed into the house.

~*~

As Oz finally made it into Sunnydale itself, he slowed down and sniffed the air, feeling somewhat ashamed as he did so. His sense of smell had drastically decreased once he'd found a way to cage his inner Werewolf, so it didn't escape every month, but he was looking for Willow. Surely his nose was up to that job.

He smelt faint hints of Willow, much fainter than he would've smelt before he had left, but he put that down to his weaker senses. Oz also seemed to be smelling Willow in two different places, but that was impossible, wasn't it? Even for Sunnydale. Unless her vampiric doppelgänger was back. God, Oz hoped not.

One source, the fainter of the two, seemed to be located in the general vicinity of Willow's parents' house, which Oz suspected was due to her having lived there for so long. The second came from Giles' house. Oz would head there, it seemed as good a place to start as any.

~*~

Ethan's mystical boat ride was far from enjoyable, leaving even the veteran pilots feeling queasy, and everyone else fighting hard to keep the contents of their stomachs in their stomachs. Whilst they did so, Sam, Jack and Teal'c combed the house for any sign of not-Willow - not, after Ethan's duplicity, that they expected to find any. Which they didn't.

Meanwhile, having partially recovered, Giles now felt sick for an entirely different reason. He had _trusted_ Ethan, at least partially, and now who knew what was going on? He had honestly believed that Ethan might be on their side, for once.

Daniel asked Willow, verbally for the benefit of the others, "Can you teleport us back there?"

Giles swung around. "You can teleport?" he asked, incredulously.

"No, to both questions. I only managed to teleport under the influence of alien technology, which gave me an enormous power boost." Willow answered sadly.

Anya, who was as surprised as anyone else that she was there - she normally wasn't keen on the whole putting herself in danger thing - said "But there's three magic users here - well, two and a half, seeing as how you're sharing with what's-his-face."

"Daniel." said Giles tiredly, unfortunately well used to Anya's callousness. "She has a point, though. Together, we might be able to do it."

"Do you mind if we don't? I'm having enough trouble not vomiting as it is, and Willow doing magic in my body just makes me worse." Daniel asked plaintively.

"Of course." said Willow, patting Daniel's shoulder comfortingly - which looked decidedly odd - before reaching out and stealing the magic from Anya and Giles, much in the same way she pulled colossal amounts of energy when she'd jumped back in time a few seconds, or fed off of the energy from the explosion. Of course, she wasn't having her magic boosted by some kind of alien virus this time round, so she'd probably be ridiculously ill and unable to use magic for days, but what choice did she have?

Willow hurled the group magically across the intervening distance in a manner not much more pleasant than traveling by Ethan's boat. They arrived just in time to see Maybourne with a gun pointed at Ethan, who had a nebulous mist of impossible colours slowly drifting towards him. And Willow's body sprawled on the floor.


	18. Chapter 18

Ethan stood by, rather uncomfortably, whilst not-Willow examined him. He was trying to come up with some way to convince her to turn her power over to him - he was sure it was transferable, given that, during the couple of times he had met Willow before, she hadn't shown even a hint that she had such power. Willow had had potential, yes, but nowhere near this - because, with it, he no longer needed to fear Wolfram & Hart. He could run, and keep running, long enough that they would never find him.

Meanwhile, not-Willow was thinking _"Here is a body with magic, one that won't be so relentlessly searched for. But how can I convince him to share it with us?"_. Although, of course, they didn't need his permission, they could just take it from him as they had taken Willow's. But it seemed as though sharing might be the better option.

Not-Willow also noticed that, while Ethan had power - although it was far less than Willow's had been whilst under the effect of the Atanik armbands, or even as much as Willow would have grown to have had, had they not stolen her body - he had the same dark taint that had exacerbated Willow's violent tendencies enormously when she had been under the influence of the armbands. They wondered vaguely if all magic users had it - they knew, from Willow's memories, that in the days when Giles had used magic regularly he hadn't exactly been a knight in shining armour, and hadn't become the paragon of virtue he was today until he had almost entirely given up magic.

"What do you want?" not-Willow asked eventually, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"You. Well, not the body you're in, I'll pass on that, but your power. I've got some people after me, you see, and they won't stop chasing me until they force me to do what they want. Then they'll kill me. But with your power, I can run far enough that they'll never catch me." Ethan said simply, deciding that the truth might be the most convincing plea.

"That's right, Rayne. We will keep after you, and not even your alliance with this - abomination will stop us." said Maybourne, having emerged from his hiding place in Giles' garden.

"Do I know you?" Ethan asked, for the second time that day.

"Did you really think Wolfram & Hart would trust _you_ enough to find out about 314 all by yourself?" Maybourne sneered.

"Oh. You must be the inside man Vail mentioned." Ethan said, then promptly ignored him, turning to face not-Willow. "You see what I have to put up with? They'll just keep coming until they catch me - or you help me."

Not-Willow concentrated for a moment, and Maybourne suddenly found himself in impenetrable darkness, without sound or even a glimmer of light to guide himself by. He scrabbled frantically for the gun at his hip, but unbeknownst to him, not-Willow calmly walked over to him, took his gun from him and casually tossed it to the floor.

Then not-Willow turned her attention back to Ethan. They had originally wanted a body that wouldn't be chased, but Ethan's plight was so similar to the fate they would've had in their home dimension that she couldn't help but take pity on him. Anyway, he was a willing host.

So not-Willow took the opportunity to shuck off Willow's body, taking on the appearance of a fine mist of impossible colours. Willow's body dropped to the ground, dead now that it no longer had a mind to power it. Unfortunately, after they had left Willow's body, the illusion they had placed on Maybourne wore off, and he cast about for his pistol before seeing it on the floor, where he scooped it up and aimed it at Ethan.

Of course, SG-1 and the rest of the Scoobies were teleported in by Willow (leaving Daniel feeling considerably worse than he had even than after Jack's flight here) at that very moment.

However, before anyone even had a chance to do anything, even for Maybourne to fire his pistol, the nebulous mist slowly faded away, as mist does under sunlight. It didn't seem as though it had entered Ethan. Nevertheless, Ethan tried to open a wormhole, to anywhere, he didn't much care where, but with absolutely no success.

Maybourne laughed shortly, before pulling a set of handcuffs out from a pouch at his hip and marching towards Ethan with them. "Ethan Rayne, you are under arrest for treason. You are not obligated to say anything. I'm sure that there's an entire firm of lawyers that would like to try your case." he said. Maybourne might not have been able to get the entity for Wolfram & Hart - although Kinsey would be glad the thing was dead - but Rayne was a good consolation prize.

Jack naturally went to challenge Maybourne actions - he would've done that no matter what Maybourne was doing, but he hadn't got a clue as to why he was suddenly acting like a policeman - but Giles seized his arm and said quietly "Let the man take him." Jack hesitated for a moment before obeying the older man. At that, any hope of a rescue evaporated from Ethan. Not that he'd really expected one, not after what he'd done to them.

~*~

Oz stood outside Giles' house, revelling in the feeling of the moonlight and the fact that he wasn't off savaging everything that moved. And working up the courage to actually knock on the door, of course. He was pretty sure that Willow was in there, and if she wasn't, someone was bound to be able to tell him where she might be.

On that note, Oz finally summoned enough nerve to take the final few steps up the drive, where he saw that the front door was ajar - as though someone had burst through it. At that, all trepidation dropped from the diminutive werewolf - someone might need his help - and he threw open the door and went in.

~*~

Ethan didn't have a lot of magic left - it had taken a substantial amount to form his protection spell, stop not-Willow from wormholing away, and summon the golden boat to get all the Scoobies and those military types out of here. It was a damn shame it had all ended up being useless. Anyway, he didn't even have enough magic to escape - not that he would have had much chance with the magic dampening amulet Maybourne had around his neck, which he guessed Vail must've given him.

Which was why he was immensely happy when a werewolf came through the front door. Ethan had never set eyes on him before (although something told him he had) but he knew a werewolf when he saw one. And this one was one of those rare types that had managed to control his inner wolf. Oh goody.

It only took a thin trickle of magic - all that Ethan had left, unfortunately - to push him over the edge, and suddenly there was a slavering wild animal in the room.

Instinctively, all the military people went for their guns, whilst the Scoobies scrambled for the weapons cabinet. But Willow, having seen that it was Oz before he'd suddenly changed, screamed "No!" and everyone halted.

Everyone except for Maybourne, that is. He had no compunction in shooting the creature, several times, until it collapsed. Then he noticed the shocked silence, and said "What? They weren't silver bullets, he's not dead. You should be glad - he'd have torn your throats out as soon as look at you."

Then he turned back to Ethan, who had barely made a step towards the door. He quickly put handcuffs on the warlock - and Ethan knew, as soon as they touched him, that they bound his magic. Which meant that he was screwed - and said "Come on, I've got a car waiting outside."

"You just happen to have a car outside?" Jack said incredulously.

"It's a small town, and the people I work for have a lot of cars. There's one on every street." Maybourne answered shortly, frog-marching Ethan outside.

~*~

No one was unduly surprised to find, sometime later, a car wrapped around a lamppost, the driver dead and Maybourne unconscious with a broken arm. When he woke up, he said that they had been driving straight down the road, and had no idea what had happened.

In the back, there was nothing but a pair of broken handcuffs - shorn through, as one might expect to see by something half left in the event horizon of a wormhole before it closed.

~*~

Author's note: I had originally thought to have a conclusion and then finish the story there, but because I've got so many loose threads that need tying, and the story I planned as a sequel is rather short, I thought I'd combine them. So, prepare for part two.


	19. Chapter 19

After the chaos had settled down somewhat, and everyone was assured that Oz wouldn't suddenly wake and try to savage them (Giles said that he should wake up unharmed and with no memory of what had happened) they noticed that Willow's body was lying on the floor. Without a pulse.

Xander noticed it first. Not being nearly as preoccupied with Oz's prone form as the rest of them (or, in Spike's case, with Sam), he looked round and saw Willow's seemingly dead body. Being cautious - and not wanting to interrupt the general babbling and Giles' explanation on werewolves - he slowly bent down to check if it was breathing or had a heartbeat. He didn't want to do it too quickly in case it suddenly moved and bit him, or something. Xander wasn't exactly sure what. However, upon finding the bodies lifelessness, he knew that he had to interrupt.

"Umm, guys? Willow's dead here. Well, not Willow, but her body. You know, the one that she was born in? Anyway, it's dead." Xander said, loudly enough to cut across the din. Sudden silence ensued.

"Can you get back?" asked Giles, suddenly concerned. He had assumed that Willow would be able to, but he had no guarantees on that. And the troubled look on Daniel's face - although seeing two different but equally anxious expressions on each half of his face was extremely disconcerting - it looked as though the answer might well be "I don't know."

"I don't know." said Willow, hesitatingly. When Daniel had gone through the wormhole, her mind had just... latched onto his. But she couldn't do that, here - for one thing, it was another dimension, for another, her body was dead, and there was no mind to latch onto. "But I can try." And try Willow did. She tried casting herself out of Daniel's body and into her own, which only succeeded in giving them both a headache. Then she dove into the source of her magic, depleted as it was, and tried to link her mind with her body that way, but got nowhere, unless making Daniel nauseous counted. Which it didn't.

"Maybe you should touch it. I mean you." said Sam, thinking that contact seemed to be necessary, in some form or another, for such magic to work. She didn't have much proof to support this, just watching Willow cast the misdirection spell on Maybourne, but she felt it nonetheless. It was a good idea as any, in any case.

No one answered, but Daniel's body - Daniel and Willow seemed to be having trouble remembering to walk properly - shambled nearer Willow's body. Both of them seized one of Willow's hands, getting mildly tangled up in the process. Willow could feel her body now, like a house with no one inside, but just a little too far away for her to actually get inside. An idea occurred to her, and she acted on it before she had a chance to convince herself not to.

Suddenly, Daniel's head plummeted down towards Willow's, lips firmly forced together - despite an "Eep" from Daniel and trying to force his own head away. Because this was technically necrophilia, and damn weird. Not to mention embarrassing. Then - something he couldn't really explain happened. It was almost, but not entirely, unlike the sensation of having left his stomach behind when Jack had done one his more ludicrous stunts in his plane. At that point, he unconsciously decided to just go with it.

It took him several seconds to realise it wasn't necrophilia anymore. It happened right about the time he saw Willow's eyes - back to their normal vivid green and no longer showing impossible colours - twinkling at him. At that point, he pulled back rather sharply, much to the amusement of everyone watching. Well, the entire scenario had been much to the amusement of the people watching. Daniel guessed he'd be getting teased about this for years. Willow too, if he had anything to do with it.

The crimson flood of embarrassment that had been threatening to wash over Daniel fell away when he saw Willow getting up and staggering dizzily as she did so. He caught Willow's arm to stop her falling over again, asking solicitously "Are you alright?"

"Ye-es." Willow replied slowly, rubbing her neck. And then looking at mild fascination at her hand moving. It felt like ages since she had moved her own hand, not someone else's. "It's just disorientating." then she winced and let out a groan as the memories from her brief possession came rushing back to her. "No, I'm okay." she said to forestall the questions that the various concerned faces watching her closely seemed about to ask. "I've just remembered what it's like to have thousands of minds all thinking the same thing. And also, the Darkness it told you about - it's real. And terrifying."

"You have that things memories too?" Jack asked, surprised.

"Yes. Please don't ask me to describe it to you. There aren't any words that suffice." Willow answered. That didn't mean she wouldn't peruse them later, at her leisure. Hmm, and those new memories she recently acquired too, of course. One in particular... She blushed, and Daniel, correctly guessing what she was thinking, followed suit. Everyone laughed at the matching pair of tomato red faces.

Buffy sobered first, which rather surprised her. But then, she did have a question to ask, so she asked it. "What are you going to do now?" she asked Willow, trying to hide the tenseness in her voice. She'd missed her best friend, a lot, even though she hadn't been away all that long. She knew the other Scoobies felt the same - except for possibly Anya, who, in Buffy's opinion, wasn't really a Scooby anyway.

It was a difficult question. Willow didn't know how to answer - so she went for a stalling tactic. "Honestly? I don't know. I need - time to think about things." she turned to the SG team. "Can I have - what's it called? - leave, or something, for a few days?"

They answered "Of course" "Yes" and two cases of "Indeed", which resulted in Jack and Teal'c exchanging glances. Jack shrugged with a slight smirk. Then he turned back to the redhead. "Well, we're all agreed. You can have leave, as much as you need. Although, I have to say, on behalf of all of us, we would like you to come back. Especially Daniel." he added with a mischievous grin, to his friend's renewal of his fading red cheeks.

Willow smiled gratefully. That meant a lot to her. Although, of course, it didn't make her decision any easier.

However, Jack wasn't finished. "In fact, I'm sure we could all do with some leave. I'm sure Daniel doesn't want to leave you alone - ouch, Danny, when did your elbows get so sharp? - and we would like to take every chance we can get to convince you to come back with us." Spike, who had begun to feel a little dejected that Sam would be leaving again so soon, and convincing himself that what he really needed to do was bite the bullet and ask her out, perked up at that.

Willow, to her surprise, felt close to tears. "You'd do that?" she asked, fighting hard to keep the tremble from her voice.

Sam answered. "Yes. Yes, we would. We like you, you see."

This time, it was Daniel and Teal'c who both said "Indeed", and gave each other mutual stares. Daniel grinned cheekily. Willow, perhaps because of the stress of the past few days, perhaps because of what was being said, perhaps because of being both magically and physically exhausted and ridiculously hungry, burst out crying. But there were laughs mixed in with the sobs. The males shuffled around anxiously, not knowing what to do. Sam sidled up to Buffy, asking in a whisper "Where d'you keep the ice cream?"

Buffy, feeling more than a little overwhelmed herself, smiled. "This is Giles' house. I doubt he has any ice cream in the entire house."

"Do you know where I can get any, then?" Sam asked.

"I know the town. I'll get it." Buffy said, despite not wanting to leave Willow.

"No, you stay with Willow. She needs you. Tell me where to go." Sam said firmly.

Buffy realised then that, even if Willow didn't stay (which wouldn't stop Buffy from doing her utmost to convince Willow to stay) she'd be in good hands.


	20. Chapter 20

As everyone unfroze from the natural terror they felt at seeing a young woman crying, and began rushing around to help her - or, at the very least, feel as though they were - Spike noticed that Buffy and Sam were off to one side, Buffy for some strange reason waving her hand around as though it were a snake, and Sam looking increasingly more exasperated. It seemed like a good time for Spike to join in.

So Spike got up and ambled over, avoiding the bustling Xander darting here and there, and stood slightly behind Buffy, listening for a moment as he heard her give quite possibly the most garbled directions he'd ever heard anyone give - and he'd lived with a crazy woman for about a century. Sam caught his eye, mouthing silently "Help me!"

"Slayer, what are you doing?" Spike said, letting just a hint of amusement colour his voice.

Buffy whirled around, flushing. She fought the urge to do what she normally did when a vampire appeared behind her - kill it. So Buffy struggled to calmly say "I'm giving Sam directions to the ice cream bar."

Spike didn't need to force a chuckle. "Is that what you were doing? I thought you were telling Sam, with accompanying hand gestures, about that time a sea serpent attacked you on Main Street."

Buffy blinked. "I've never been attacked by a sea serpent on Main Street."

"Exactly." Spike smirked. Then he turned to Sam, aware that, if his heart still beat, it would be racing now. "D'you want me to show you the way?" he said.

Sam shrugged. "Why not? Ice cream is the cure for all ills - or so they say."

"Who says that?" asks Spike conversationally, as the pair head for the door, leaving an extremely surprised Buffy behind.

"Jack, mainly. You should see him with ice cream. And pie. Oh, and when he gets the two together..."

~*~

Sam and Spike ambled casually down the road towards the ice cream bar, just talking about anything that ran through their minds. Spike was glad that he hadn't yet spouted a poem.

"Major? Major Carter!" called a voice from across the street. Sam tensed, turning to look. It was Riley, casually dressed, with two other men of similar appearance flanking him. The civilian look was rather spoiled by what were clearly guns of some kind wrapped in coats. No wonder Hammond disapproved - this seemed like a poorly-run shambles of an operation. Spike tensed too, and Sam wondered why, before remembering that he had been experimented on by people like Riley. Perhaps by Riley himself.

"Lieutenant Finn." she said blandly, aware of Spike readying himself for some kind of assault next to her.

"Where are you going, Major? Have you found Willow yet?" Riley asked eagerly, apparently not having noticed Spike - which was odd, given that his peroxide blond hair seemed to glow in the dark. Sam felt Spike stiffen, and spin round to stare at her. Her heart sank.

Then Riley caught sight of Spike, at last. "Oh, hello there. I was just wondering if the Major here had seen a friend of mine." he said coolly, hoping that he wasn't too suspicious. Well, given that this was Sunnydale, he doubted anyone would notice if he ran around wearing nothing but a Viking helmet, but orders were orders. Then Riley felt a sneaking suspicion that he knew man currently intently staring at Sam. "Do I know you?" he asked, cautiously.

Spike started, and Sam found herself wishing he wouldn't do anything stupid. He was still a vampire, after all - wouldn't it be possible he might just savage the soldiers in front of them? From what she had heard, Spike had escaped from them before.

"Nein. I am new to this country, I am just visitink an old friend of mine." Spike said with a thick German accent. Sam fought the urge to either double up laughing or gasp in surprise. "Vell, my dear, it has been nice to be seeing you again. Auf Wiedersehen." he said to her, doing a casual salute before turning and striding off, the darkness enveloping him quickly.

Riley watched him go, then shook his head. "I could've sworn..." he began, before trailing off. Then he gathered himself. "So, no news on the Willow front, then?" he asked hopefully.

Sam found she didn't like the young man. Oh, she was sure Riley was nice enough, but he was just so incompetent! "No, Lieutenant. There isn't." she said coldly.

Riley didn't seem to notice. "Okay then. Back to work, men." he said, and headed off back down the street. Sam watched them go, then sighed. She got the feeling that, just when things had started to go right again, they'd taken a turn for the worse.

Spike materialized behind her, which should've been impossible given that Sam had seen him go the other way, and there was no way he could've had time to go all the way around the block. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't go and tell the Slayer to go and thrash those guys." he said flatly.

"Spike-"

"And then you can tell me why she shouldn't beat you and your little squad up too."

"Spike-"

"I'd do it myself, but those soldier boys decided to mess around in my brain, just to see what would happen, to make it so I can't even defend myself. Then they thought they'd have a spot of torture. So explain it to me, _Major_" Spike spat.

"Spike, shut up. Let me answer, will you." Sam finally managed to say. Spike subsided slightly, and Sam forged on. "We were working with them to find Willow. We only met them a few hours ago. Hell, we only found out they _existed_ a while ago. So, no, we're not in cahoots. And, if you happened to be lurking around, you would've noticed that I didn't tell them anything." Sam said quickly, all in one breath, watching Spike's face intently to see how he took it.

Spike blinked. "Oh."

"Yes."

"I feel a right ponce now." he said sheepishly.

"Oh, that's quite alright, I understand." Sam said, smiling slightly. "So, shall we go get that ice cream?"

"I think so, yes."

"Why did you act German, by the way?" Sam asked curiously as they began walking again.

"I spent some time there during the war. I guess all soldiers remind me of them, a little." Spike replied.

"The war? The world war? Which one? Hell, you've probably lived through both." Sam said, taking a deep breath. Spike just grinned. "So, do I remind you of the Nazis?" she asked jokingly, guessing he meant them - his salute had been vaguely similar to theirs.

Spike seemed to take it seriously. "Well, you _do_ look Aryan." Sam burst into peals of laughter at that, and Spike just looked at her wondering what was so funny.

~*~

When Spike and Sam returned a while later, carrying enough ice cream to feed a small army (just so long as they weren't fascists. According to Spike, they loved their ice cream) they saw that Willow had calmed down somewhat, enough to join in a mammoth game of Monopoly, at any rate. Everyone was playing - Xander and Jack seemed to have formed an alliance that pretty much dominated the board, which had Anya pouting as her money reserves dwindled.

But Willow's mind wasn't on the game, much. Oh, she was glad it was there, that it served as some distraction, but she couldn't stop glancing at the cage that Oz's prone werewolf form was lying in, or at Daniel who sat across from her. Her thoughts were spinning, round and round, and she just wasn't getting anywhere. She wasn't sure, at this point, that she wanted them to. Willow just wanted to enjoy the moment, with all her friends around her.

Jack had said he would call the General in the morning to ask for some leave. He had no doubt Hammond would allow it, given that his team were, by and large, workaholics who rarely had holidays. Anyway, Willow knew she wouldn't be coming to a decision about where she stayed - who she stayed with - for some time. And it would probably only get harder when the sun came up and Oz awoke. So she focused on the game, as much as she could. But still, the need to make a decision niggled at the back of her mind.


	21. Chapter 21

It was nearly sunrise, and everyone had gone to bed - Willow had let the other members of SG-1 into her parents' house, correctly assuming that they wouldn't be there. They had offered to stay with her, of course, but Willow had refused - except for Spike, being nocturnal as he was. Willow was rather glad that he had volunteered to stay up with her, because, despite the fact that she knew there was no chance of getting to sleep, she still didn't think she could handle staying up by herself. And she didn't want to stay with someone who might influence her decision, to stay or to go. She still felt shaken from dying (Willow had equalled Buffy on that count, now) and from the memories of the extra-dimensional entity that had briefly possessed her. Having Oz locked in a cage nearby wasn't helping, either.

Willow was in the middle of yet another card game (Spike had been teaching her to play poker, and she had found that, much to her surprise, she was good at it. Unless, of course, Spike was going easy on her) when she felt a colossal surge of magic. It was miles away, far further than Willow had ever been able to sense something before. She wondered if that was because the magic was so strong, or if her death had somehow strengthened her magic, or if it was some other reason entirely. However, given that it was so far away and seemed like nothing more than a simple summoning spell, Willow ignored it and won the hand she was playing.

"The sun will be up in a couple of minutes, Red." said Spike, gently. "Would you like me to..." he gestured vaguely at the door.

Willow smiled gratefully. "Yes, thank you, if you don't mind." she said, voice quavering a little. Spike looked at her compassionately, then lurched upright and left the room. Willow hoped he was going far enough away that his vampiric hearing wouldn't catch what she was going to say to Oz.

Then the sun rose, and Oz-the-wolf shimmered briefly and became Oz-the-man. Thankfully, Giles had scrounged up some clothes which he had put in the cage - Willow knew that they'd be far too big for her diminutive ex-boyfriend, but she really didn't want to have any kind of meaningful conversation with him that started with him being naked. So Willow waited until he started to stir (in case she had to wake him up rather than let him awake naturally) before turning her back to him.

"What happened?" Willow heard Oz say, voice harsh. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"You got shot." Willow said, thinking that that was as good a place to start as any. Goddess, did this have to be so damned difficult!?

"Really." Oz said conversationally, as though that happened to him every day. "Why?"

Willow thought for a moment about how to answer that. She'd spent the entire night rehearsing what she would say (if you could call it rehearsing when she changed her mind every minute or so) but now, when the time came, Willow still didn't have a clue what to say. "You came to Giles' house, do you remember that? Ethan was here-"

"The costume man." Oz interrupted, checking. He hadn't been affected by Ethan, not that time, but he had been told the story. "I'm dressed now, by the way." Willow blushed slightly and turned around to face him. He looked ridiculous in Giles clothes, they really were far too big for him.

"Yes, the costume man." Willow affirmed. Come to think of it, did being turned into a ghost count as dying? Because if so, Ethan and his actions had killed her twice. "Anyway, he was here, and a man who wanted to arrest him. You came in just before he got arrested, and he must've done something that pushed you over the edge." Willow assumed that Oz had found some way to control his inner wolf, given that the moon had definitely been up when he had come in, human.

"I lost control." Oz said, bitterly. After all that effort to find a cure, and he didn't even have the will power to implement it properly.

"No! No, it was Ethan, I felt him do it. Then the man who was going to arrest him, Maybourne, shot you." Willow said, eager to brush aside Oz's doubts.

"Right." said Oz, absorbing the story, such as it was. "So, how are you doing, then?"

Willow laughed. "Oh, I'm good. Besides dying and being possessed by something from another dimension. And being really under-slept. You?"

"You do look tired." said Oz laconically. "I'm fine, too. Been traveling around the world in my truck, getting shot at, and on one memorable occasion having chickens pelted at me."

"Sounds fun."

"No, it doesn't."

"You're right, it doesn't." Willow laughed briefly, then stopped because it seemed fake. Perhaps it was. "So, what do we do now?"

"It does seem kind of awkward, doesn't it?" Oz agreed.

Willow sighed. "Yes, yes it does. I suppose I'd better introduce you." she mused, half to herself. "Wow, this is going to be a long story."

"I thought I'd met all your friends." Oz said warily. "And I have plenty of time for a long story."

"Well, I kind of made new friends while you were gone." Willow said shyly, then blurted out "And joined a military project."

Oz blinked. "Really. That's new."

~*~

Willow told Oz all about everything that had happened to her since he had left her - the Caelus fiasco, meeting Jack, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c (she left out her and Daniel's recent kiss, and really hoped that no one would bring that up) and discovered that alien life existed, and how she had signed up to the Stargate program, due in no small part to him leaving her and her feeling like there was nothing here for her anymore. Of course, Willow didn't put it quite like that, but that was how Oz understood it - as they walked to her parents' house. She expected that Teal'c, at least, would be awake, probably both Sam and Jack too.

Oz seemed to take it all in his stride. Willow couldn't tell what he was thinking - but then, she never had been able to. It was part of why she liked him, that and his non-linear humour. Now, though, Willow couldn't help but wish that he would just speak, tell her how he was taking all of this. But he didn't.

Willow hesitated a moment before turning the key in the lock, afraid of what might happen when she introduced Oz to her other, non-Scooby friends. But she did it anyway, knowing that there was no point delaying the inevitable. She threw open the door to the smell of omelettes, and Willow realised, as her stomach growled at her, that she was _starving_ - that ice cream hadn't really sustained her for long. An answering rumble from Oz made Willow chuckle.

Abruptly, Teal'c appeared in the doorway. "Good day, Willow Rosenberg. I have made omelettes."

"You can cook?" Willow asked in surprise, then caught the looks passing between Teal'c and Oz. "Teal'c, this is Oz. He's a werewolf. Oz, this is Teal'c. He's an alien." The two men, one at least a foot taller than the other, stared at each other a moment more before shaking hands.

That out of the way (although Willow had no more idea what Teal'c thought of Oz than what Oz thought of - well, anything, really) Willow headed into the kitchen, where, to her mild surprise, she saw all the members of SG-1 sitting around the table - well, slouched would be a better term. They all looked exhausted. "Hey, Willow. Hope you don't mind - Teal'c took over the kitchen, and ousted us from our lovely sleep." said Jack, with a glare at the impassive alien. Then he caught sight of Oz and straightened up slightly. "Oh. Hi there."

"Hi." said Oz calmly, taking in the scene.

Willow took it upon herself to do the introductions again. "Jack, Sam, Daniel, this is Oz. Oz, this is Jack, the blonde is Sam and the one with the crooked glasses is Daniel."

Daniel straightened his glasses and said "And you'd be the one that Willow engraved on the wall, when she was possessed."

Oz turned to Willow, the question clear in his expression. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that." she mumbled. "Do you mind if we don't talk about that?" Oz shrugged and went over to the kitchen island, taking a healthy portion of one of the three omelettes that Teal'c had made - the only one containing meat, Willow noticed - and sat across the table from Jack, notably as far from Daniel as he could get. Awkward silence ensued.

A phone rang. Everyone went to their pockets, and Jack rummaged around in his before triumphantly bringing his cell out. "I'll just be a moment." he said to the room in general before stepping outside.

"So, how long have you been a werewolf?" Sam asked, to break the silence.

"About two years. How long has it been since the same kind of thing that lives in Teal'c's stomach was living in you?" Oz replied.

"You can tell that? How?" asked Sam incredulously, turning to Willow to see if she had told Oz about Jolinar. Willow shook her head to show she hadn't.

"I've always had a good sense of smell." said Oz drily, eyes flicking to Daniel.

Before anything else could be said, Jack stepped back into the room, phone in hand. "That was the General. He's agreed to give us a week's leave." the SG-1 team relaxed slightly, having subconsciously feared that they might be needed back at the base. Willow remained tense at the awkward situation Oz's return had put her in.

Jack wasn't finished. "Sam, Hammond wants to know if this means you'll be skipping your lecture on theoretical astrophysics at the Airforce Academy tomorrow."

Sam stood up suddenly. "Holy Hannah, I completely forgot about that! Tell him no, no I won't. I've already blown off General Kerrigan too many times. Sorry Willow, but it'll only be for a day."

Willow nodded. "It's alright, I understand." She couldn't expect everyone to entirely put their lives on hold for her.

Jack said, reluctantly "I suppose I'd better tell those commandos that the business with your possession is all sorted out now."

~*~

When Buffy woke up, back in her dorm room - she was mildly surprised she had managed to get to sleep at all, considering that being an insomniac was basically part of being a Slayer, and she expected to be plagued with ideas to stop Willow from going back to the SGC - she realised that she really needed to have a conversation with Riley. At some point during the night, Sam had told her about the commandos, and Willow had burst in saying that Riley and Professor Walsh were both in on it - Buffy had had to try to look surprised, although the news that Walsh was part of it was surprising.

So Buffy called Riley, and he turned up at her dorm far faster than she would've expected. And, for the first time since Oz had joined their group, Buffy found herself explaining about being a Slayer and the supernatural to someone who wasn't already part of that world. And also, without revealing her sources, what she knew of his operation.

Buffy could see that Riley didn't entirely believe her, that he was shocked by what she had said, but he hid it behind a soldiery exterior. "I suppose you'd better meet Professor Walsh."

"I suppose I better had."


	22. Chapter 22

Willow and Oz stayed with SG-1 for quite some time after breakfast, before moving on to visit Xander, and if they were really unlucky, Anya too. Oz, though, was being even more monosyllabic than usual, not volunteering anything at all. Willow hoped that it was only because he didn't know SG-1 like she did, or that he was adjusting to being back in Sunnydale or something like that. She hoped it wasn't anything more serious.

However, whilst Xander acted like a delighted host (as much as it's possible to do in his parent's basement) and Anya, unsurprisingly, seemed extremely put out at having anyone interrupting her time private time with Xander, Oz was still despondent, only speaking when asked a direct question, and even then only the bare minimum, which was, incredibly, even less than Oz normally volunteered. Seeing as how Anya was sulking, Xander and Willow found themselves having to carry the conversation by themselves. Understandably, it soon petered out.

So Willow and Oz headed over to Buffy's dorm, hoping that she would be there (Willow's fairly certain she didn't have a class right now, but who knew with Buffy?) and Willow just slightly lost her temper at Oz's behaviour. She knew she shouldn't, that she was being unreasonable, but Willow just couldn't help herself. "I know you're normally all laid-back and quiet, but why are you being so... passive?" she snapped.

Oz didn't answer for a minute, and Willow began to think that he wasn't going to. Then he says "I travelled across several continents trying to find a cure. I wanted to give up so many times, but I didn't. Because I wanted to come back here. To you. But never did it occur to me that you might move on, that you might've changed. So I come back and it's like there isn't a me-shaped hole, you know?"

"Ah, Oz. I didn't move on, not for a while, until I nearly got killed - well, nearly got killed in a non-vampire related way - and I found other friends. And a big part of the reason I went away with them is because they wouldn't always remind me of you. But now, I'm back, and you're back, and I honestly don't know what to do. I don't know whether to stay or to go. I'm conflicted." Willow found herself saying, spilling far more than she had intended to.

Oz smiled his laconic smile. He felt - not better about things, he couldn't feel truly better until Willow makes a choice - but more settled, more assured of his place here. Despite the fact that Daniel had smelt heavily of what he had to fight not to call "My Willow." He said "It's alright, I understand." But Oz didn't add "_But I don't have to like it._"

By that time, they had reached Buffy's room, but upon knocking on the door and getting no answer, decided that is might be a good time to visit Giles. Willow thought they could safely give Spike a miss, given that, as far as Oz was concerned, he was still evil. Or eviler than he was at present, perhaps. Willow wondered where Buffy had gotten too.

~*~

Where Buffy had gotten to was somewhere spectacular. She had seen many impressive things - well, to an average person the vampires she killed every night would be incredibly impressive - but this underground facility that housed the Initiative was in a class all by itself. "You said it was big. In all fairness you did. But you didn't say it was _huge_!" she exclaimed to Riley, as he escorted her to see Professor Walsh. And to think that Walsh, her Psychology professor of all things, was _running_ the place!

Riley chuckled as he watched Buffy's awed expression as she tried to take in everything - the bustling people in lab coats, the large central operating theatre in which a large green demon (was it alive or dead?) was strapped into a chair, the vast room - and then checked himself when he realised he was staring. Riley had been doing that a fair amount recently. "C'mon Buffy, the Professor is down there." he gestured to the solitary figure standing sentinel, watching all the proceedings like a hawk.

Buffy gulped at the thought that her scariest teacher by far had command of so much military power. It was a good thing Walsh had never wanted to chase her on the numerous assignments numerous apocalypses had interrupted. However, she quashed the mild uncomfortableness she felt over approaching Walsh in this circumstance and concentrated only on her excitement.

Walsh spun around as she heard people approaching her - although how she could tell anyone apart from the general cacophony of footsteps without preternatural hearing, Buffy didn't know - and her face lit up as she saw Riley. "Agent Finn!" then Walsh caught sight of Buffy, and it was like a shutter dropped, instantly concealing all emotions. "And Buffy Summers. You'd better have a good reason for being here." she said, coldly.

"Have you ever heard of something called a Slayer, ma'am?" Riley asked deferentially. Buffy hoped she would never have to speak to Walsh - to anyone - in that tone.

"Yes, of course. It's something the sub-terrestrials use to frighten each other with. It's just a myth." Walsh said, wondering where this conversation was going.

Riley glanced at Buffy, and Walsh was intrigued to see that Riley only continued when Buffy gave him an infinitesimally small nod. Walsh was annoyed too, of course. Riley was _hers._ "Buffy is the Slayer." he said, trying to keep the doubt out of his voice. He just found it difficult to believe, even though he had seen her fighting off (more capably than he, he forced himself to add) those creepy floating demons.

Apparently, Walsh found it just as hard to believe. She examined the tiny blonde closely, until Buffy found herself trying not to blush. "Really?" Walsh said, unlike Riley making no pretence of hiding her incredulity.

Buffy found herself indignant. "Yes, I am. And I'll prove it, if you want." she said pugnaciously.

Walsh raised an eyebrow. "That's something I'd like to see. Agent Finn, assemble a group of say, five soldiers in the training room." she ordered, staring at Buffy as though daring her to back down.

Buffy didn't. "Of course I'll agree to such a demonstration, Professor. Just as soon as someone shows me to the training room, of course." she said sarcastically.

Walsh fought down her anger. A Slayer, if Buffy really was one, could be a valuable ally. If only she wasn't, well, Buffy. Or so close to Riley, for that matter.

~*~

Buffy hit one of the soldiers so hard that his feet left the ground, sending him cannoning into another soldier and bringing them both down into a heap of tangled limbs. Buffy looked around for the next person to fight, but realised they she had already downed them all. How unsatisfying.

Walsh blinked as the spectacle was all too quickly over. If she hadn't known better, she might have suspected that Buffy was a vampire, she moved that quickly. She had to be a Slayer. Well, they could certainly use one. And, as she thought about what lay behind door 314, possibly for more than just demon hunting. "Well, that was certainly interesting to watch." she understated, playing it cool "I'm sure we can certainly use you for training our soldiers to be more effective."

"Actually, I was hoping to do something more demon hunter-y. You know, play to my strengths." said Buffy hopefully.

_"Got her!"_ thought Walsh triumphantly. "Well, there is something you should know. A few hours ago, a colleague of ours was injured apprehending a hostile sub-terrestrial - a demon, to you - that is capable of possession. The HST escaped, and we believe that it may be in the body of your friend, Willow Rosenberg." she said, passing along the information that Maybourne had given her, before they'd found him unconscious in a car wrapped around a lamppost. She didn't mention that it was an alien, not an HST, which was in control of Willow. Buffy didn't need to know that.

Buffy's eyes narrowed as she wondered both what Walsh knew and what to tell her. She settled for the truth - she didn't want Willow getting mistakenly shot. So she told Walsh that the "demon" had jumped to another man, Ethan Rayne. Of course, Buffy left out some details - and she knew Walsh noticed - but it should be enough to keep them away from Willow.

"I'm most impressed." said Walsh, her tone belying her words. "Come with me." she ordered imperiously, turning and leaving without looking to see whether Buffy was following. Buffy looked over at Riley, who despite being rather shocked at Buffy's fighting prowess gave her a reassuring smile. They both left in pursuit of Walsh.

A few minutes later (Buffy vaguely wondered if this underground complex went all the way beneath Sunnydale, because how else could it be so big?) Walsh turned into a gadget-filled room - well, she went into one. She didn't transform into a gadget filled room, which would be absurd - and quickly found what she was looking for. She handed Buffy a pager.

"Cool, I've always wanted one of these." said Buffy irreverently, turning the device over and over in her hands.

"It only has the Initiative's number on it, and it stays that way. We will use it should we want to contact you. Now I hope you enjoy your day." Walsh said, the dismissal clear. She watched as Buffy and Riley left together, no doubt planning to do exactly that. Walsh wondered whether a Slayer would be more use to the Project dead or alive.


	23. Chapter 23

Spike tried not to listen to the conversation Willow and the newly awakened Oz were having downstairs. He managed for all of thirty seconds - it was hardly his fault he had such keen hearing, why should he have to stick his fingers in his ears? And seeing as how it was daylight outside, he could hardly go anywhere, at least without a covering of some sort. And, by the sounds of the conversation downstairs, it sounded as though Red and Wolf-boy were heading over to see SG-1, so Spike could hardly go and visit Sam. Not that he'd be able to do much, seeing as how it was still daylight. Couldn't the sun just set already? He knew that it had only just come up, but still...

Giles was still asleep, Spike could hear him snoring - in fact, he was mildly surprised that everyone couldn't, even the people next door. He guessed Ethan hadn't called him Ripper for nothing, the man sounded like a chainsaw - which meant that Spike couldn't even bait Giles, which was a damned shame. But, Spike thought when he heard the door close at least he could go downstairs now without fear of interrupting anything, and fix himself a nice cup of blood. He hoped Giles still had some, Spike had taken to ahem *buying* ahem it fresh from the hospital recently, since he'd gotten some of his freedom back, at least. Although Giles, if he had any blood at all, would most likely have only pig's blood, and he was no Angel, who avoided human blood like the plague.

Anyway, Spike was procrastinating - although what he was putting off was a matter of some debate, seeing as how he didn't actually have anything to do.

Spike wondered how long it would be before it would be deemed acceptable to visit Sam. Then he wondered why he seemed to be reverting back to the lovesick wimp he had been when he was still human. He supposed the lack of killing and maiming was getting to him, he hadn't not killed something for this long since - well, ever. He'd always been bloodthirsty.

~*~

Spike lasted two hours before he became so bored that he thought going outside and setting himself on fire might be a better option than staying in the house for a moment longer. During that time, he drank a cup of stale pigs blood, watched the static on Giles' ancient television for half an hour, practiced with Giles' admittedly fine collection of weapons, which resulted in Spike nearly destroying one of Giles' tables before realizing that he didn't really care whether he destroyed it or not. The resulting crash had resulted in a dressing-gown clad Giles (a sight which Spike hoped never to see again) coming down the stairs and narrowly missing Spike with a crossbow, which resulted in an enormous argument - which, Spike had to admit, he'd rather enjoyed - and then spent some time playing Patience, which was something that he had never had.

Given the extreme nature of his boredom, Spike decided that he'd grab one of Giles' blankets - whether Giles approved or not - and run across to Willow's house, sunlight be damned. Although what exactly he would do there, he hadn't the faintest of ideas. But that was all part of the fun, and besides, it had to be better than here. So he grabbed a blanket - evoking an annoyed cry from Giles - and ran out down the street.

Spike made it to Willow's house in record time, loudly thumping on the front door as though the hounds of hell were after him - ah, that had been an exciting weekend, Spike remembered nostalgically - and the door was opened by a surprised looking Jack. Spike rushed inside (seeing as how Willow's parents spent enough time away that the house couldn't, mystically speaking, be called theirs at the moment, and what with Willow living elsewhere now, and SG-1 being just guests, Spike didn't need an invitation).

"Spike, what's the emergency?" Jack said tensely.

"What? Oh, nothing. I was just mind-numbingly bored." said Spike conversationally, unwrapping the blanket from around his head and massaging his slightly toasted fingers. They'd heal soon enough.

Jack laughed, the tension melting from him. He thought he might get to like Spike, he seemed a man after his own heart. Even though he was vampire. But then, seeing as how one of his closest friends was an alien - one of a species that was for the most part hostile towards him, what's more - Jack was fairly sure that species wasn't as important as one might think. "Did Giles try to lecture you on, I don't know, the cultural history of some demon race or other? Because, if that kind of thing bores you, then you should know that Daniel will probably do the same thing sooner or later. Except about aliens, not demons."

"Well, I don't think Willow minds." Spike said, not really thinking about what he was saying. He was listening. He could hear the heartbeat of the man in front of him, then an exceedingly odd sound that was probably the alien, and two other hearts, one on this floor and one pretty much above his head. Good, Oz and Willow and left, and Sam was still here. Not that Spike though she would go anywhere.

Jack smiled broadly, thinking that he had yet to tease Daniel about his and Willow's kiss. He should probably rectify that, as soon and as often as possible. "Say, d'you want to come through here? I've got an archaeologist that's just begging to be teased." he said enticingly.

Spike came back to himself. Was this human really being friendly? Why? Spike supposed it was because Jack didn't know any better - if he knew the kind of things he had done in his life, he was fairly sure that Jack wouldn't be nearly so friendly. "No, perhaps another time. I was actually here to see Sam."

Spike was intrigued to see Jack instantly go stone-faced. He wondered what he had said, when suddenly he realised. He probably should've seen it before. Oh well, there was nothing he could do about the Jack-Sam dynamic, especially seeing as how it didn't seem to be going anywhere. "Upstairs." said Jack shortly, before heading into the kitchen without another word. Suddenly, he didn't feel like baiting Daniel so much now.

Spike watched him go, then shrugged and went upstairs.

~*~

"Jack, what's wrong?" asked Daniel as soon as his friend walked into the room, face thunderous.

Jack grimaced. Why did Daniel have to pick today of all days to be observant? Normally he couldn't see what was right under his nose, even with his glasses on. "Nothing."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "If nothing were wrong, your face would not look like a Ha'tak preparing to fire." Daniel glanced at his friend in amusement, although he supposed it was only to be expected that a Jaffa would use different similes than a human.

"Nothing's wrong. Although I thank you for likening my face to a spaceship." Jack said drily, taking a swig of water and wishing there was something stronger in this house.

"Jack, we know you well enough to be able to tell that something is wrong. If you won't tell us what it is, we will keep pestering you until you tell us, because I _know_ that you'd do the same for me." said Daniel compassionately. Teal'c, despite not moving, seemed to radiate agreement.

Jack smiled weakly. He knew Daniel would, and he'd bring it up at the most inopportune times. Come to think about it, he'd probably bring Sam in on it too, and that he really couldn't have. Which, unfortunately, meant that he would have to tell them _something_. "If I tell you, you have to promise that it does not leave this room." he said forcefully. Teal'c and Daniel both nodded. Jack sighed, and said "I've just received information that my hockey team is going to lose its next match."

"Liar." said both Daniel and Teal'c simultaneously.

"Well, it was worth a try." Jack muttered. "It's about Sam."

"She turn you down?" asked Daniel, then immediately regretted doing so as Jack jerked as though an electric current had just passed through him - which, to be fair, is what it felt like.

"What!" Jack exclaimed. "You... you knew?" he stammered incoherently, and not entirely sure of what he was accusing them of knowing.

"Yes." said Daniel, going for a complete affirmation. "For some time now."

"I only found out a few days ago." Jack mumbled.

Daniel turned to Teal'c. "See, I told you neither of them knew! Now I get to choose our next film on movie night!" Daniel said triumphantly.

Jack somehow managed to pull himself together. "How long have you known?" he forced himself to ask.

"Since Major Carter amorously assaulted you when you briefly became cavemen." Teal'c answered. Daniel snorted with laughter at Teal'c's description.

"How did you know about that?" Jack asked calmly. He was rather beyond being surprised now.

Daniel coughed delicately. "Umm... you weren't alone in the room at the time."

"Oh. I didn't notice." mumbled Jack.

"I'm not surprised you didn't, what with Sam throwing herself at you and all." said Daniel, grinning broadly.

"Oh." said Jack. What else could he say to that? Then the situation finally got to him, and he burst out laughing. Somewhat sheepishly, Daniel followed suit, and in an uncharacteristic display of emotion, Teal'c raised both eyebrows.

~*~

Sam sat in an armchair in one of the upstairs bedrooms, looking at the play of light and shadows on the ceiling. She hadn't slept well the night before, and the exceptionally awkward breakfast hadn't helped with that. But she wasn't entirely sure why her night had been so bad, nor why she felt the need to be alone in this room staring trancelike at the ceiling. If she had had to guess, Sam would say it was because she was unused to having free time - even when she wasn't on a mission, Sam was always in the lab or examining a piece of alien technology or doing something, at the very least.

She had to decide when to go to the Airforce Academy for her lecture tomorrow, too. Part of her wanted to take the plane and fly there now, simply for something to do, but an equal part didn't. Sam just felt melancholy, and she didn't know why.

Someone knocked on the door, and Sam wearily got up and opened it. She was fairly surprised to see Spike there. "Come in, come in." she said, gesturing. She went and sat back in her armchair, whereas Spike, because there were no other chairs, found himself perching uncomfortably on the edge of the bed.

"So, how're you doing?" asked Spike, for want of anything more interesting to say.

"I'm alright, a little tired maybe, but alright. You?"

"Can't complain, can't complain. Would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?" Spike blurted out, entirely without meaning to. Then he thanked any deities, benign or otherwise, that he couldn't blush, because otherwise he probably would've set something on fire. Probably himself.

Sam bit her lip to keep herself from laughing at Spike's expression. "Do you eat? Normal food, I mean?" she said, carefully not answering the question.

"I can, it just doesn't taste - well, of anything much. And you didn't answer my question." Spike said, slipping from near crippling embarrassment to indignant.

"No, I didn't. And yes, I would like to." said Sam, to her own surprise. Then she smiled.

Spike was not only shocked that she had said yes, but terrified. He'd never had to do anything like this before! "Great." he mumbled, rushing out of the room.

Sam waited until she heard the front door close before bursting out into a fit of giggles, echoed by the roaring laughter of the boys downstairs.


	24. Chapter 24

It was soon after dusk that the pager that the Initiative had given Buffy went off, with Riley's going of simultaneously. Buffy vaguely wondered how they managed to make both of them go off at once. Willow could probably explain it.

Buffy had spent most of her day alone with Riley, besides the brief time she had spent with Willow and Oz. It seemed like the pair didn't know what to do with themselves, and Buffy couldn't blame them. She wouldn't know what to do if Angel came back with some kind of mystical solution meaning that they could stay together, just when she was beginning to put her life back together.

Like now, in fact.

But Buffy couldn't dwell on the past right now, and she wasn't much in favour of that kind of thing anyway. She followed Riley to the secret elevator that led into the Initiative, wondering what they wanted her and Riley for. She doubted it was an apocalypse, Giles would've told her about that. It was probably just some run of the mill demon hunting. Yippee.

~*~

"Your target is a HST known as a Polgara demon." said someone that Buffy thought was either called Dr Anglemen, Englemen, Angleman or Engleman. It seemed to change every time she heard someone say it. She figured she'd just stay with the first option. "It has a thin bone skewer in its arms, which slide out when it feels threatened. It is imperative, I repeat imperative, that its arms are not damaged. Is that clear?"

Amongst a chorus of "Yes, sir!"s, Buffy wondered if she was the only one who took issue at that. She raised her hand, and Anglemen gestured for her to speak, annoyance evident. "But surely, Dr Anglemen, if we're in a fight with this Polgara demon, and it tries to stab us, damaging its arms may well be unavoidable?"

"Which is why you must exercise all possible caution when dealing with the HST, so that that precise event does not take place. And my name is Angleman." he said, to much concealed amusement from the ranks of the military men.

"Right, but what if it happens anyway?" Buffy asked before she could stop herself. She'd forgotten for a moment that she wasn't talking to Giles, to whom she frequently asked such questions.

Buffy got more or less the same answer Giles would've given here too, albeit with a lot more exasperation. "Well, you'll just have to make sure it doesn't, won't you Ms Summers?"

Walsh jumped in before anymore barb-exchanging could take place. This was, after all, merely a field test of the Slayer's abilities, to see how well she fit into the Initiative. Or more precisely, _where_ she fit into the Initiative. The arms from the Polgara demon would just be a bonus. "Alright, I think that's everything. Lieutenant Finn, you take point, use whatever strategy you think necessary to take that HST down."

~*~

It was a quick, simple fight, lasting no more than a handful of seconds. The Polgara demon didn't know what hit it. It was Buffy and Riley's team that stumbled across it first - well, after the demon tossed Riley several feet into a tree - but Buffy had already snapped the creatures neck by the time a woozy Riley managed to make his way to his feet. And Buffy hadn't even needed to damage its arms.

Buffy stepped in close to examine the graze on the side of Riley's face. She gently touched it, sending a shiver down his spine that had nothing whatsoever to do with the slight injury. He caught Buffy's hand in his own, easily engulfing it. Then he leant down and kissed her.

~*~

Walsh watched from the button-hole camera that doubled as a heart-rate monitor that she had secretly installed on Riley's uniform. She was pleased to see that, as brief as the encounter had been, Riley's heartbeat had remained steady, even when he was briefly knocked flying. The drugs were having their desired effect.

The Slayer had performed admirably, but then, after having seen the demonstration against the group of soldiers, Walsh had expected nothing less. But that wasn't the problem. The problem was the way Riley's heartbeat soared when the tiny blonde came near him. Walsh couldn't have that, Riley was hers. She just had to make him aware of the fact.

Which meant that the Slayer had to go. Oh, not tonight, it would take a while to set things in motion - despite the fact that Walsh had thought ahead and even created a solution to the problem she believed that the Slayer might cause - because things weren't quite ready yet.

But tomorrow, Buffy would die.

~*~

Spike hadn't dressed up for the occasion. He didn't really have the clothes for it. Or, for that matter, the experience. So he'd just put on his standard all black clothes and black leather duster, which just made him look even paler than normal. Although, had he still had a beating heart, he still would've been ridiculously pale. He was just that nervous.

Spike didn't know why he was acting this way. Well, that's not strictly true, he knew exactly why he was acting this way, but not why he was acting this way after spending a century acting like Spike. Perhaps it was his way of getting over Drusilla, and doing it with the only person he knew that wouldn't judge him for being a mass-murdering vampire.

None of which helped Spike to work up the courage to knock on the door. So it was much to his surprise when Sam opened it anyway. This feeling was promptly followed by relief to see that Sam hadn't dressed up either - although this was probably because she hadn't brought any other clothes with her from Colorado.

"So, where are we going?" asked Sam, cheerily.

"This little Chinese place I know." Spike answered before pausing for a moment. "You don't mind four-armed demons, do you? Only my mate Jim runs the place, and he says that having four arms makes everything just that little bit easier."

Sam looked at him incredulously. "You know, I've got to see this place now. A Chinese restaurant run by a four-armed demon named Jim. Congratulations, Spike, this has got to be the most original night out I've ever been on."

"His names not really Jim, but humans can't pronounce it, so everyone calls him Jim." Spike said anxiously, before noticing the compliment and beaming. "Shall we go, then?" he said courteously, extending his arm to Sam.

Sam took it. "Let's."

~*~

"So, what'll it be?" asked the gravelly voice of Jim the proprietor. To Sam's disbelief, he really did have four arms, all of which seemed to be constantly in motion. Other than that, and his amazingly rough voice (Sam wondered whether he ate rocks or something) he seemed surprisingly normal.

"The usual for me, Jim." said Spike, looking inquiringly at Sam. Sam ordered, some mild prawn curry thing (at least, she thought it was) and a mango juice. No alcohol for her, she still had a plane to fly.

"One plate of mouth scalding gristle and a glass of O-Neg, a prawn curry and a mango juice coming up." Jim affirmed, sounding like someone walking down a gravel path. He walked back the kitchen, arms whirling.

Sam raised an eyebrow at Spike's order. "Mouth scalding gristle?" she questioned.

"I did say I didn't have much of a taste for human food, didn't I? Well, ludicrously spicy food has a nice tang to it, contrasts the smoothness of blood." Spike said, watching her to see how she took the reminder of his blood-drinking.

Sam wasn't unduly bothered. When your father is host to an alien and one of your best friends meditates instead of sleeping, you get used to people's idiosyncrasies pretty quickly. Nevertheless, she wanted to change the subject. "D'you come here often, then?" she said, cursing herself for the cliché.

Spike smiled to show he had noticed. "Oh, a fair bit. I was around here, hmm, about twenty years ago or so. Jim was having trouble with the contractor he'd paid to build this place - bastard took his money and worked about five minutes a day - so Jim, being a peaceable sort, came to me with the problem. I hired a bunch of Fyarl demons, clobbered the contractor until he agreed to work for free. So I pop in every now and then, yes." he concluded.

"You beat the contractor up." Sam said, keeping her face neutral.

"Oh, yes. Made quite the day of it." Spike said, face wistful. Clearly he was remembering the days when he could actually hit people, rather than having to get Buffy to do it.

It was about then that Sam realised what she was getting into. She liked Spike - Spike the man, that is, if such a creature could be said to exist - but Spike wasn't just a man. He was a killer, and not even a reformed one at that. If it wasn't for the chip on his head, he'd still be killing people now.

Dating Spike would be like dating a more personable version of Apophis.

Their food arrived at that point - Sam guessed that having four arms really did make cooking faster - but she asked Jim if she could make hers a takeaway. Jim nodded once and took her food away again.

Spike didn't say anything, just looked at Sam in such a way that she felt compelled to give an explanation of some sort. "I've just remembered I've got a plane to catch. I've got to give a lecture tomorrow." she said, aware of the low-quality of the excuse.

Spike clearly saw it too. His eyes narrowed, and he said "Can I walk you to the plane, then? Or drive you?" as Jim brought Sam's food back, this time ready to take away.

"No, no, I'm quite alright." Sam muttered, scooping up the food and rushing out.

Spike watched her go, then shook his head. "What did I say?" he asked to the room in general. But the only answer he got was a four-armed shrug from Jim.

~*~

Sam realised the source of the vague melancholy that had been bothering her all day. Recently, she'd given up any chance of Jack, or she'd thought she had. But she hadn't, not yet. Perhaps not for a long time.

Perhaps Sam was being over-sensitive about Spike. Perhaps she wasn't. It didn't unduly matter, because, either way, Sam hadn't the faintest clue what to do with her personal life. The truth was, she never had. That was why she threw herself so into her work.

~*~

Like Sam and Spike, Oz and Willow's day wasn't exactly filled with happiness. Fraught with awkward moments would be closer to the truth. Or at least, that's how they had been around their friends. Slowly, over the course of the day, as the pair went and did the things that they used to do when they were alone together, things got progressively less and less awkward.

Eventually, they reached the point where it wasn't awkward at all.


	25. Chapter 25

Sam, for a woman who had spent the night asleep in an airplane after flying it for several hours, looked surprisingly refreshed. Of course, she still had to change into her dress uniform and freshen up a little, but after her poor night's sleep previously, it was good to feel rested.

This was due in no small part to Sam realizing that she still loved Jack, for all that she knew that it would never work out. She would probably continue to do so for some time, although she was sure she would eventually get over it.

But Sam couldn't dwell on that now, she had an eager (well, probably not really) bunch of Airmen to lecture.

Buffy, to her mild annoyance, was woken by a persistent beeping noise. She was sure that she hadn't set her alarm - Buffy distinctly remembered thinking that she would need some sleep, after - well, just after. Several afters, actually, although she had finally managed to convince herself and Riley that sleep was good.

Eventually, Buffy realised that it was the pager that Walsh had given her that was awakening her so damnably early. Which meant she should probably get over there. Which would mean getting herself out of bed, uncurling herself from around the still slumbering Riley (although what soldier didn't wake up from an alarm? Buffy supposed that, given that he wasn't a Slayer, Riley probably needed more sleep than she did).

About a minute later, Buffy actually managed to muster the willpower to get up, thinking as she did so that she would never manage to survive the strict discipline of a soldier. She could barely cope with the small doses of training she allowed Giles to heap upon her occasionally.

Riley stirred, then woke with a start. However, seeing a half-naked Buffy dressing herself quickly was a pleasant enough awakening that he didn't feel alarmed. "Must you get up?" he asked a little plaintively, hoping that they might be able to spend a little more time together.

Buffy, for a change, was business-like. She might grumble about her duties, but she was never one to shirk them. She ignored the part of her that sounded suspiciously like Giles calling her a hypocrite. "No, the Initiative calls, and I must answer." she said, a little pompously.

Riley got the message though. Having frequently been called away from things he'd rather be doing by some emergency HST hunt, he could sympathize with Buffy, although that didn't mean he liked it.

Not that it mattered in the slightest whether Riley liked the situation or not, because Buffy had already gone. She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, Riley just might tempt her back into bed.

However, Riley didn't see it that way. He saw it as Buffy running out on him without even a goodbye kiss. He sighed, and got dressed slowly, thinking about the night he'd just had and hoping that it wasn't a one off.

Willow too was just awakening, in a blissful state. It took her a moment to realize that she was in Oz's room, a moment longer to realize that Oz was nestled into her shoulder, and yet another moment before she remembered that Oz had left her.

Well, apparently he was back again now. And Willow didn't really know how to take the fact that she'd welcomed him back with open arms. She certainly hadn't planned for it to wind up that way.

Moreover, Willow didn't know what to do. She knew she had to make some kind of a decision, and she knew that, despite the week of leave that Hammond had given her, she would have to make the choice sooner than that, because Willow was fairly certain that if she didn't make a conscious choice, she would end up making one arbitrarily.

So Willow lay there, in Oz's bed, with Oz lying against her, wondering whether or not she had a future with a diminutive werewolf, or if she belonged out amongst the stars.

Sam's lecture went by much as she had expected - so few were interested in theoretical astrophysics, and indeed why would they be when they could be out flying or something? Sam could understand that, she'd been through it herself. Although the motivational speech she had given at the end might awaken some passion from the cadets.

What Sam hadn't expected was for a tiny cadet (although, given that Buffy was several times stronger than she was, and a couple of inches shorter than Cadet Hailey, as her tag proclaimed, Sam was fully aware that height wasn't everything) to point out an error in the complex equation she had written out on the whiteboard, one which had completely passed her by.

The cadet intrigued Sam, and she thought it might just be a good idea to have a little chat with General Kerrigan about her. After all, if the SGC could recruit Willow, who was of an age with Hailey, why not at least check out the background of Hailey too?

"You're sending me out to hunt raccoons" asked Buffy incredulously, having just heard the first solo assignment Walsh had given her.

"No, our machines are reading a Class 4 HST. Although, admittedly, they have occasionally turned out to be raccoons, itt work, just fizzled in her hand and gave her a mild shock.

Buffy tossed it aside before stepping in close to the axe-wielding demon - careful to keep it between herself and the second one - so that it couldn't effectively use its axe. Then she pounded on its arm as fast as she could, looking for the nerve cluster that would make it drop the weapon. Buffy quickly found it, sweeping up the weapon before it hit the ground, but didn't get a chance to use it before it kicked her across the room. She had heard something snap when it had kicked her, but Buffy was so full of adrenalin that she didn't notice any pain.

Buffy bounced back up, walked over to the demon and swept aside its flailing arms, then swung the axe diagonally upwards to that it shouldn't have to cut through the demon's rib cage much before ripping through its heart. Unfortunately, the demon seemed to have a longer ribcage than a human, so although the axe's momentum and Buffy's Slayer strength was enough to kill the demon, she wouldn't be getting the axe back out of it any time soon.

However, now that one was down, the second demon, previously hampered by the small room and its comrade, was now free to come at Buffy. And Buffy, now aching from being slammed against a wall and unarmed, wasn't any too keen on the fight. Fortunately, Buffy spied the still-sparking Taser and a pool of water (and suddenly she was glad the fight was in the sewers) and ran at the demon, slamming into it - the demon, in its surprise, didn't offer much resistance - and pushing it back until it reached the pool. Then Buffy kicked the Taser at the demon, who promptly and rather amusingly went into spasms when the Taser hit the water, making bolts of electricity arc through the demon.

The second demon now dead, Buffy checked her chest for signs of injury, but found that the thing that had cracked was only the heartbeat monitor and camera Walsh had given her. She hoped it wasn't too damaged to do what she wanted to do with it.

Walsh had been watching Buffy's escapade on the screens in the Initiative, and was alarmed when both camera and heartbeat had gone. Fortunately, she'd managed to get camera back shortly, although it only showed blackness, with gave credence to the lack of heartbeat.

Then Riley came along, and for a second Walsh felt guilty. But only for a second. "Agent Finn, I'm so sorry, it's Buffy. She went by herself - she brushed off all attempts to convince her to bring a team - and she's dead, Riley. I'm so sorry."

Riley's face was horrific to see.

Then the screen behind Walsh flickered to life, and Buffy's face appeared on it. It seemed as though the camera had slipped behind her jacket, which was why Walsh hadn't been able to see anything, and obviously the heartbeat monitor was malfunctioning.

"They definitely weren't raccoons, Professor. If you want to kill me, you'll have to do better than that." Buffy said in a glacial voice, then crushed the camera.

Riley took one look at Walsh, and Walsh quailed. Then he turned on his heel and left. Walsh shouted after him, but Riley didn't turn around.

Walsh, as she always did when things weren't going as she wanted them to - which was considerably more than she would've liked - went to visit 314. Or Adam, as she had taken to calling him. He was nearly finished now, they could awaken him at any time.

Walsh talked to him as she put the finishing touches on some paperwork, then felt an agonizing pain in her chest. She looked down shortly before she died, to see a bone skewer sticking right through her. At least she died not knowing that it was her own creation, her Frankenstein's monster, which had killed her.

Buffy headed to Riley's room to tell him what had happened, and Riley headed to Buffy's for the same reason. By coincidence or fate, they met half way, and after babbling incoherently at each other decided to go back to Riley's to talk.

However, the only talking they managed was on the way there, because waiting in Riley's room was a thunderous looking Forrest. "Did you kill the Professor?" Forrest asked bluntly.

Riley looked taken aback. "No, of course not. You mean she's dead."

"Yes. There's no trace of the killer. We just thought that you both seemed angry when you stormed out earlier..." Forrest said. He knew Riley better than anyone, and he was sure that he wasn't lying.

So who killed Walsh?

Sam was just about to see Cadet Hailey when she got a text. She was sure that no one would text her now unless it was urgent, so she whisked out her phone. It was from Willow:

Walsh tried to kill Buffy. Walsh is now dead, but we don't know who killed her. Or what. Can you get back soon?

"Okay" said Sam to herself "time for a change of plan."


	26. Chapter 26

Sam had originally intended to take Cadet Hailey on a brief tour off-world - there was a science mission on a moon orbiting a gas giant that she thought would be just perfect - but there was always the possibility that revealing the existence of demons, magic, and Spike-the-mostly-friendly-vampire might be equal to going to another planet. And, if the Initiative was in as much disarray as one would expect a military operation to be immediately after the unexpected murder of their commander (civilian or otherwise), it would be far easier task involving much less paper work and hassle to get Hailey in.

Having an inside man - or, in this case, an inside woman - could be very useful, because they still didn't know all that much about what the Initiative was actually up to, besides their stated claims that they were re-conditioning vampires and demons. They didn't know what would happen to the aforementioned vamps and demons after that, although Sam thought that any organisation that went to Maybourne and the NID as their first port of call couldn't be all good. And it was doubtful that they would trust any of SG-1 enough to give away any useful information, and if they had tried to kill Buffy, the Scoobies were pretty much out as well. But a young girl just there for work experience after a high up *friend* in the Airforce (Sam was sure Hammond would oblige) pulled some strings to get her there might be just the thing.

Of course, before all of that, Sam actually had to have a conversation with the girl, which she hadn't gotten around to yet. All she'd done was hear about her from her teachers and Kerrigan. It was entirely possible that her attitude problem might be an insurmountable obstacle in an operation such as this. But Sam was a good judge of character (except, as her father kept telling her, even when he became the host to Selmac, in the case of romantic attachments), and she thought that Hailey might just be the woman for the job.

Which was good, because Hailey was just coming in now.

"Cadet Hailey reporting as ordered." Hailey said with a smart salute.

"At ease, Cadet." said Kerrigan, then lent back in his chair and steepled his fingers, clearing giving the floor over to Sam.

"Cadet, I'm going to ask you a few questions. I'd like you to answer them honestly." Sam began. She already knew which path to take from the way Hailey was standing - she needed some shaking up, she was too self-assured. Sam knew that Hailey had been expecting to be expelled from the Academy as soon as she was called in here, and she just didn't care.

"Yes, Ma'am." said Hailey. Of course, the words themselves were exactly what one would expect towards a superior officer, but the tone and the accompanying expression just got on Sam's nerves.

Which might've had something to do with exactly how Sam phrased this next question. "Who the hell do you think you are?" Sam asked, easily assuming the tones she used when one of Jack and Daniel's prank wars got out of hand. Sam didn't need to turn around to know that Kerrigan's eyes would suddenly have widened and that he was wishing that he had decided to film this.

Hailey was taken aback. Good, that was what Sam had intended. "Ma'am?"

"Do you think you're better than us, that you're too good for the Airforce?" Sam repeated sternly.

"No Ma'am."

Sam had Hailey backed into a corner, and everyone but Hailey knew it. The woman's pride was too great to back down now, despite the attitude that she had had upon entering the room. So, if she wasn't going to quit, which Sam was sure she wouldn't, then she would have to accept what Sam had decided for her, namely a place on a science team in the Initiative. Or get thrown out, of course, but Sam was sure that Hailey would leap at the chance to work at the Initiative - once Sam explained to her exactly what that entailed.

Sam was already thinking about how to explain the situation to Hailey - away from Kerrigan, of course - and how to convince Hammond to arrange a place in the Initiative for Hailey before she even began going down the route she had decided the conversation should take.

~*~

Meanwhile, the Scoobies had gathered in Giles' house - including Oz, although everyone noticed that Willow was sitting as far away from him as she could, and conspicuously avoiding looking at him, and Riley, who everyone now knew was part of the Initiative - to discuss the matter of Walsh's death. Only Spike was absent - he had told Giles that he was fed up with having to keep popping over there every night and was looking for his own place. Apparently there was a lovely crypt going begging in a local cemetery, and he needed to stake his claim.

Riley was raring to go demon hunting - although Forrest hadn't been sure as to what had happened to Walsh beyond the fact that she had been killed, apparently only Doctor Angelman and a few top scientists had actually seen the body, and as yet they hadn't released the details as to what had happened yet - but he was sure that a demon must've done it, what other possibility could there be? He knew Buffy hadn't done it (although he still felt niggling doubts on that matter) because she had been with him at the time, and he couldn't think of any other person that might have a reason to kill Walsh.

However, despite the fact that, as far as Riley was concerned, everyone who needed to be here was here - although he would've liked a few members of his team to be present as well - no one seemed inclined to do anything but sit around as though waiting for something. Eventually Riley had enough. He stood up, declaring "Aren't we going to do anything? There's a demon on the loose... who knows how many more people it has killed... and we're just sitting here, doing nothing! What are we waiting for?"

Of course, because the universe has a decidedly theatrical bent, what the Scoobies were waiting for walked into the room at that very moment. "At ease, Lieutenant. They were just waiting until we arrived." said Jack in a calming tone. The last thing they needed was a loose cannon of a soldier on their hands.

What Riley really didn't need right now was another shock. The death of Walsh was bad enough, but to find that the people from the Airforce were still around - worse, that they had to have known what the Scoobies were doing long before he had - really didn't help matters. Why were they still here, anyway? They should've left after Maybourne had apprehended the entity that had entered, according to Maybourne, Ethan Rayne, after it had left - Willow.

Suddenly, Riley had his answer. He knew someone who would've had a grudge against Walsh, after Walsh had ordered her capture, and who by all accounts would have had the power to walk into the Initiative unseen - or even just teleport inside - and kill Walsh without raising a single alarm. It all fitted. Before anyone could stop him, Riley had scooped up Willow and slammed her against the wall. "You killed her, didn't you? Admit it! You're nothing, nothing but an HST!" he snarled in her face.

Jack didn't even look around before slamming an arm out to halt an outraged Daniel from charging the crazed Riley, because he had seen what Daniel evidently hadn't - the gun that Riley had levelled at Willow's stomach. "Look out, he's got a gun." Jack said in a calm voice, so as not to agitate the soldier who had seemingly gone past loose cannon and was well on his way to being a loose nuclear missile.

Everyone who had slowly been edging their way towards Riley stopped when they heard that, and Oz, who had been contemplating letting loose his inner wolf and tearing Riley to shreds, concentrated harder on remaining human. It was a tough job.

Willow knew that she should probably try a spell, but she didn't have the breath to say anything - being slammed against a wall really knocks it out of a girl - and besides, she couldn't think of anything that would get her out of there quickly, and with a gun pointed at her stomach - which even if it didn't kill her outright, it was likely she'd never make it to a hospital - Willow _really_wanted to get out of there quickly. Unfortunately, as she no longer had the power of the Atanik armband, which augmented her magic enough that she could escape with a thought, Willow had to rely on her friends to get her out of this one.

Buffy thought she had the best shot at getting Riley to back away. "Riley, that's Willow you've got at gunpoint there. She's not a HST, you _know_ that. Look at her face. Do you really think she killed Walsh? Just put the gun down, Riley, we can talk about this."

"Isn't she? Isn't she possessed by an alien? That's what they told me. What Walsh told me. Why would she lie? No, no, she wouldn't lie. So you killed her, you killed Walsh and you killed Willow, now you just look like her." Riley babbled, sweat pouring down his face and hands wavering - but through indecision or whatever was making him act this way, Buffy couldn't tell.

Daniel realised that he had seen something similar to Riley's behaviour a couple of years ago. In fact, he had been the one who was acting that way. "Jack, I'm thinking that Riley might be a little overdue at the sarcophagus." Daniel said, hoping that Jack would get the code.

Jack did. He remembered the crazy, paranoid Daniel that had resulted from overusing a sarcophagus, and the weeks it had taken for him to get over the withdrawal. So, it would seem that someone in the Initiative was secretly pumping their soldiers full of drugs, and if they were suffering withdrawal symptoms now, then that must mean the drug treatments had ended when Walsh had died. Which mean that the drugs had been given on her orders, which in turn meant that the Initiative almost certainly wasn't the virtuous organisation that its manifesto had made it out to be.

However, Jack didn't have the faintest idea of what to do with the information, nor how to stop the soldier suffering from withdrawal from drugs he hadn't even known he was taking from shooting Willow.

~*~

Spike had found a lovely crypt. It had everything that a vamp could want - well, except furnishings and the like. And as he couldn't eat people anymore, he'd need a refrigerator to keep his blood fresh, which meant that he needed electricity. The place could do with a television too, it wouldn't do to miss out on Passions - and he didn't think that Giles would be any too keen on him continuing to watch it at his place. So, really, the crypt could do with a lot of work, but Spike was sure that he could make it work.

So Spike set about cleaning the place up - the sun was up, so he wasn't going anywhere, and just because he was dead didn't mean that Spike wanted to spend his time in a dirty hovel - when the crypt doors burst open and a pair of commandos came rushing in.

It was hard to say who was more surprised, Spike or the commandos. Either way, it was Spike who recovered first. With a snarl at the fact that he couldn't beat up the pair - he was sure he could make quick work out of them - Spike wrapped his leather coat around his head and dashed out into the sunlight. Thanks to his vampiric speed, he was almost out of range before the commandos managed to pull their act together and shoot at him, and Spike stumbled and almost fell when one of their shots got lucky (if bullets can even be said to be lucky) and caught him in the shoulder, but Spike had been shot before and it didn't bother him overmuch. He kept on running.

He headed for Giles' house to warn the Scoobies that the commandos were out in force, and if possible to convince one of them (preferably Sam, if she was around) to get the bullet out of his shoulder.

~*~

"Riley, look. I know how it feels to lose someone you're close to. Believe me, I've been there. But you have to know that it wasn't Willow that did it. You know that, really, don't you? You just need someone to blame. I understand that, I really do. But Willow's the wrong person for that. You need to find out who the _real_ culprit is. So just put the gun down and we will talk about it rationally, okay?" said Daniel, still vainly trying to get Riley away from Willow.

Abruptly, the window next to Riley smashed and a pale hand reached through it, seizing Riley by the shoulder and yanking him through the window, all before anyone could move. There was an animalistic cry of pain, a gun shot, and another cry of pain. Buffy raced to the door to find out what had happened, but Teal'c merely walked over to the window, surveyed the scene and punched something, then hauled an unconscious Riley and Spike, who judging by the hand clutching his chest, had been shot, into the room.

Spike, besides looking slightly paler than usual (which one might think was impossible) didn't seem worried about his own condition. Probably because he knew that being shot wouldn't kill him. He just looked at Willow and said "Are you all right, Red?" and Willow nodded, rather shakily. Spike then looked at the man who he had pulled through a window (which had given him an unbelievable headache, thanks to the chip) and said, in some surprise, "Blimey, it's Soldier Boy."


	27. Chapter 27

People tend not to move closer to vampires of dubious virtue immediately after they've been shot and pulled someone through a window. It wasn't until Spike stood up and grunted, then headed to the bathroom muttering about needing to get a pair of tweezers that anyone moved.

Jack and Teal'c gently led Spike over to a chair, telling Giles to get the aforementioned tweezers and any medical supplies he might have, while Daniel and Oz went over to the shaken Willow to comfort her, with Oz glaring at Daniel as he did so, and Daniel, having taken a dislike to Willow's ex after the fiasco that had been yesterday's breakfast, glared at him too.

Buffy heaved Riley onto the bed, formulating a plan to find out exactly what was wrong with him - it would have to involve breaking into the Initiative - when Jack came over, not particularly wanting to see Giles rummage around with a pair of tweezers in Spike's stomach, and Teal'c was doing an admirable job holding the vampire down, for all that their strengths were more or less equal.

"He's suffering from withdrawal symptoms." said Jack, gesturing at Riley's body lying prone on the sofa.

"Really? Withdrawal from what? And how do you know?" asked Buffy.

"Well, some kind of drug, obviously. I'm guessing that the Initiative must've been pumping him full of some kind of drug, but that stopped when Walsh died. It looks a little like what happened to Daniel a few years back." Jack answered.

"Thanks Jack, just take the thing entirely out of context, why don't you?" said Daniel acidly.

"You were taking drugs a few years ago? I wouldn't have thought you were the type." said Willow with a frown.

"No, no, I've never taken drugs. A few years ago, we were captured off-world, and the princess took a liking to me" Willow suddenly looked thunderous, and Jack snorted saying "Yeah, after you stopped her from committing suicide and she rewarded us by forcing us to work in the mines." Daniel glared at him, then said "As I was saying, she took a shine to me, and she convinced me to try using a sarcophagus - a kind of Goa'uld healing device - over and over again, and I got addicted to it."

"Well, alien addicts. Who would have thought it? I guess going to other planets isn't exactly a barrel of laughs after all." said Buffy with a sidelong glance at Willow, who coughed something that sounded suspiciously like "Subtle".

"Um, military people? Would you mind coming over here for a moment?" said Giles in a preoccupied voice.

Jack and Daniel (although he wasn't strictly military, Daniel thought that Giles' summons had been general enough that it could include him) and they saw that Spike had been bandaged around the waist - Daniel vaguely wondered how he had managed that so fast. He wondered if vampires need stitches - and that Giles was examining a secondary wound in Spike's shoulder.

Giles didn't even look up, he just said "Is it normal for a bullet to flash in this manner?"

Jack made his way round the table to examine he wound, but he was already pretty sure about what he would see. He wasn't disappointed, although he wished he was. "It's a tracker. You need to get it out and away from here as soon as possible."

"Yes, thank you, I never would've realised." said Giles, but the exasperation in his voice robbed the words of any sting. Jack guessed that Giles spoke that way to the Scoobies a fair amount. Then Giles closed his eyes briefly, then said "Willow, third bookcase from the right, first shelf from the bottom, fourth book on the left, page 628. If you could read the spell there, I'd be most grateful."

"You have a photographic memory." stated Daniel with interest.

Giles shook his head before continuing trying to get the tracker out of Spike's shoulder. Oddly, that was harder to do than to get a bullet out of his stomach. Giles suspected that this was because there were a lot more bones and nerves and things in the shoulder to get in the way. It's a good thing that Spike would heal no matter what he did. "No, I just remember what I read."

Willow, having found the spell, said dubiously ""A spell to ignite the atmosphere?" Are you quite sure that that's a good idea, Giles?"

"Yes, yes, it will ionise our surroundings which should diffuse the trackers signal." said Giles in a hectored voice.

"Giles, how is it that you despise computers and everything to do with them, yet you know that?" asked Buffy curiously.

"Because I am not entirely uneducated. Now, if you would be so kind, please shut up, I'm literally in the middle of a delicate operation here." snapped Giles while Willow started chanting.

~*~

As soon as Sam had landed at Sunnydale Airport, she had attempted to call Jack to inform him of her plan (in the end, Hammond had proved intractable and was refusing to allow Hailey to enter the Initiative under any circumstances, so Sam had had to tell her that this was a drill to ascertain her suitability for another program, when she was older of course) but the call wouldn't go through. In fact, none of the calls she made to anyone in Sunnydale went through. Sam thought that this was ominous, given that the last time (and, admittedly, the only other time she had been in Sunnydale) that had happened here was because Caelus had been about to break free.

Anyway, Sam was ignoring Hammond's orders - Jack would congratulate her and say she didn't do that nearly enough - because, unlike on other worlds where failure in a mission, whilst never a good thing, probably wouldn't lead to the end of the world (at least, the end of the Earth. Destroying an alien planet was all too frequently a possibility), the Scoobies dealt with apocalypses on a regular basis, and allowing whatever had escaped from the Initiative to stay and cause havoc would be a very bad thing, and worse, it would be _her_ world that it was causing havoc to. And Sam very much didn't want that to happen.

So Sam told Hailey that this was a drill, and conscientiously told herself that she would later tell Hailey exactly what she had done. "So, you're to go in, find every file on something called 314 that you can, hack if you need to - and don't pretend you can't, Cadet, because I know the kind of things clever people get up to these days - and get out. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" declared Hailey, executing a perfect salute. She was clearly brimming with excitement at the thought of a mission - even if she thought it was only a drill - and Sam began to feel some qualms over using a young girl in her plans. Perhaps it wasn't the best of plans, if she had had more time - and more sleep, for that matter, and a couple of less stressful days...

But Sam quashed these doubts as Hailey hopped out of the car and mingled with a group of scientists (which, despite being a fair amount shorter than them, Hailey was still more or less of an age with them, and so mixed with them surprisingly well. Sam supposed that the age of the scientists had to do with the fact that the base was below a university, and the scientists could no doubt pose as students should the need arise) heading towards one of the Initiative's many entrances - because what self-respecting secret base had only one entrance?

~*~

Hailey knew that this wasn't a drill. She wasn't stupid. She didn't know what it was for, besides the fact that Sam had told her that she might see some pretty strange things, but she knew that whatever 314 was, it had to be important and also highly classified.

Which was fun.

It was surprisingly easy to get in, despite the guards who one might expect to check for ID (which Hailey didn't have) but they seemed preoccupied with something else and just waved people through. Hailey wasn't to know that, with Walsh dead, the Initiative was more or less falling apart.

So, she was in. Now she needed a computer, because yes, Sam had been right, Hailey most definitely could hack computers.

But it couldn't hurt to look around first, could it? Especially when there was an extremely interesting knot of people all huddled around in a corridor. Hailey couldn't resist going to find out what it was that had them so interested.

Of course, the fact that they were all gathered around a sign with 314 written in bold above the door for all to see - which led Hailey to expect that this wasn't so classified a mission after all - only made it more interesting, Hailey thought as she wormed her way through the crowd.

Hailey soon wished she hadn't. She had no desire to see what looked like bloodstains covering the floor, and what were certainly several limbs of what really had to be some kind of animal. Really, it had to be an animal. What else could it be?

Hailey glanced around the room to distract herself, and caught sight of a portable hard-drive, which someone named Adam had considerably labelled with both his name and 314. Jackpot!

Surprisingly, it is pretty easy to steal something when there are a lot of people around, as long as they are making a lot of noise and not really paying a lot of attention to what anyone else is doing. Fortunately, that was the case right then, and Hailey took the opportunity to take the drive and run with it (well, wormed her way back through the crowd and walked away calmly with it, because everyone knows that there is nothing quite so suspicious as someone running away).

~*~

Sam was mildly surprised when Hailey came back out so soon, and was even more so when she saw what Hailey had found. Sam just hoped that the hard-drive was everything it seemed to be.

Now Sam just needed to get it to the Scoobies, and they would be well on the way to solving the mystery they had on their hands.

Of course, Sam didn't know where they were right now, and given that she still couldn't get a signal - she wondered whether it was some kind of local phenomenon, although it was more probably just bad luck - she couldn't exactly ask them. So she decided that she would drop Hailey off at Giles', because at least some of the Scoobies almost always seemed to be there, and she would go on to Willow's house to see if the rest of SG-1 were still there.

~*~

The ionizing spell had begun to wear off just as Giles managed to remove the tracker from Spike's shoulder, much to the disappointment of many who found people's hair sticking straight up to be hilarious, which to be fair was pretty much everyone. Daniel consequently took the tracker from Giles and washed it down the sink.

The doorbell rang, and Oz, the nearest, opened it.

Upon seeing someone dressed as an Initiative scientist, Willow, who had noticed a spell on the page opposite to that which she had used to ionise the atmosphere, which knocked people out. It was a surprisingly short spell, despite being in a language that played merry hell with her tongue, and Willow had been memorizing it in case there was ever a time when she was once again held at gunpoint by a crazed Riley.

So Willow cast the spell, and the woman crumbled to the floor, and had little flickers of electricity dancing over her unconscious body. Which Willow was pretty sure wasn't meant to happen.

Giles, who as a result of his misspent youth, knew the knockout spell that Willow had just used (although it was darker magic than he liked to use nowadays) and also knew what happened when the spell was combined with electricity, such as one might find in an ionized room. He and Ethan and their gang had even made use of it, by going on a spree of breaking and entering houses, and if caught they'd use a combination electricity and knockout spell.

As a result, anyone hit by the spell would wake up with absolutely no memory of the past few days.


	28. Chapter 28

Jack quickly went over to the prone woman - although, upon closer inspection, she was no more than a girl - but hesitated to check her pulse due to the fat wormlike electric sparks that were dancing on her body. "Was that meant to happen? And when will this electricity stop?" he asked to the room in general.

"I don't think so." said Willow, a little guiltily. "And I don't know when it'll stop."

Giles held up a hand, five fingers extended. A second later and he folded one, and then another, and so on. When he had folded all his fingers and returned his hand to his side, the sparking electricity crawling all over the young girl vanished as though it had never been, and Jack took her pulse and pronounced her unconscious. Willow heaved a sigh of relief, then looked at Giles and asked him "So, was that meant to happen?"

"No. It was a side effect of casting the spell in an ionised atmosphere. As a consequence, she'll be unconscious for the next sixteen hours and sixteen minutes, and will have lost her memory of the previous thirty-two and a half hours." Giles answered concisely, while making some tea.

"Not 32 hours and 32 minutes?" asked an interested Daniel.

"Of course not, don't be absurd." said Giles distractedly, as he glared at the somewhat tattered-looking Spike, who was sitting in his favourite seat. Spike took great pleasure in not moving, so Giles had to sit elsewhere.

"Great, so now we have an amnesiac unconscious Initiative scientist on our hands." muttered Jack.

"Try saying that ten times fast." said Buffy cheerfully, in an attempt to lighten the mood. Jack glanced at her gratefully, while Teal'c raised an eyebrow at her but otherwise didn't react.

"Actually, that might be a good thing." said Sam, from the doorway. Both Spike and Jack leapt up, and Giles muttered "Now he moves." to himself.

Jack said, words stumbling over themselves slightly "Carter! You're back! When did you get back?"

Sam smiled at his antics. "Oh, about an hour or so. Long enough to disobey Hammond's orders, break into the Initiative and steal this hard drive." she answered, holding said hard drive aloft.

"You broke into the Initiative? How? I thought they all knew us there?" said Daniel curiously, referring to their earlier brief encounter with the Initiative.

Sam's smile twisted slightly. "Yeah, they do. That's kind of why I brought an extremely promising Airforce cadet from the Academy here and got her to do it. Which was the bit about disobeying Hammond's order - I tried to get Hailey - that's the cadet at your feet - clearance to be there legally, but Hammond refused, so..." she shrugged.

"Ummm, Carter? That was really stupid, you know. Buffy probably still has clearance, even if they did try to kill her - it's doubtful that they would've had the time to revoke it - and besides Finn, I don't think any of the others there know anyone else besides her and us." said Jack, assuming the voice of a superior officer berating a subordinate. Sam looked suitably berated.

"I know, sir. But I panicked, and it's different when it's on Earth rather than some other planet. It's closer to home, you know?" said Sam pleadingly.

Jack sighed "Yeah, well, Hailey won't remember it anyway, so I guess no harm no foul. You'll just have to take her back." ordered Jack.

"Jack? If the thing that killed Walsh came from the Initiative, and according to Riley there were no break-outs from any of the demon's cells, shouldn't we have our two scientists look through that hard drive?" said Daniel thoughtfully.

"We have two scientists?" asked Willow.

"You and Sam." Daniel answered.

Willow threw up her hands "Whoa there! I'm not a scientist, not like Sam! I've barely made it out of high school!" she protested.

Xander snorted. "Yeah, but you've been reading undergraduate and postgrad science books for years, Will."

"Yes, but- but I've only read them! I haven't got near the same practical experience as Sam." she protested.

"Shh, you'll do fine." said Sam comfortingly, before saying to Jack "You know, Daniel might have a point, sir."

"Shocking." Jack murmured, entirely in the hope that Daniel would say "Hey!' indignantly, which he of course did. Jack shrugged. "Well, I can always fly Hailey back to the Academy." simulating reluctance while really feeling glad that he'd have another chance to fly a human plane so soon. He really didn't get to do it enough, and Jack loved it.

As Jack swung Hailey over his shoulder, grunting slightly as his knees crackled when he stood up and glad that she was so small (and hoped that the fabled Sunnydale Syndrome that Willow had told him about would protect him from being seen carrying an unconscious body around) Sam said to the room in general "Is there a computer that I can plug this into?", again holding the hard drive aloft.

Xander chuckled. "Welcome to Giles' house, complete technophobe. We were shocked when we found he had a television, even if it was covered in books."

"My laptop's at the SGC, and my parents have probably taken theirs to - wherever it is they've gone - and we don't have a desktop at home - it broke down after Moloch. Well, I say broke down..." said Willow. Daniel looked as though he were about to ask her to clarify, but evidently thought that now wasn't the time.

"I have several desktops here. They're all covered in books, but if you need a desk I can help there." said Giles helpfully, and didn't understand why everyone burst out into gales of laughter (or raised both eyebrows).

"My parents aren't any too keen on buying things that they can't drink afterwards." said Xander dejectedly. Willow patted his shoulder compassionately, but stopped when Anya glared at her.

Before Anya had a chance to launch into some kind of doubtlessly embarrassing diatribe about why she didn't have a computer of some kind, Buffy said "My mom has a computer at home, so she can do gallery stuff there. But she should be at work now, so it should be free."

"Yay, party at the Buffster's place!' said Xander excitedly. He calmed down a little when Buffy looked at him coolly, amending his statement to "I mean, I'm sure we'll be nice and quiet while the techno-geeks solve the problem." when both Sam and Willow glared at him, Xander shrunk slightly and said in a mollifying tone "You know you should stop me when I start speaking."

"If only that were possible." muttered Spike and Giles at the same time, then looked at each other in astonishment. Daniel chuckled at that.

"But surely that is what we will be doing? Not making you shut up, of course, but waiting while the techno-geeks sort everything out?" said Anya brightly.

Before anyone had a chance to get on anyone else nerves, Buffy said in an authoritative tone "Right then, let's go!" and walked out of Giles' house and headed for her own. Everyone followed shortly, hesitating only long enough for Giles to finish his third cup of tea (he felt he had needed it, after the day's events) and Teal'c to put on his hat to cover his golden Jaffa tattoo and assume his Murray persona.

They left, leaving Spike behind, because it was daylight and he didn't really feel like another run in the sun - he was still feeling lightly toasted from his last outing, and besides, he'd been shot since then. He deserved to stay. Spike was almost tempted to bounce up and down on the prone Riley lying sprawled on the sofa - Spike thought that was the least he could do for someone who had shot him - but he didn't really want the chip-induced headache, so settled for tying him to a chair.

And of course Spike, with his more than a century of age, was far too mature to draw obscene images on the unconscious figure. It wasn't because, despite the vast quantity of tomes and scrolls lying around Giles' house, Spike couldn't find a single writing implement.

~*~

When the group reached Buffy's house, Sam refused all offers of refreshment and asked to be directed straight to the computer. Buffy obliged, and Sam quickly connected the hard drive and just as quickly groaned.

"What is it?" said Xander - at least, that is what everyone assumed he said, it is rather difficult to understand what anyone is saying while they are saying it around a mouthful of Twinkie. Even Anya looked at him in disgust as he sprayed. Xander shrugged apologetically.

Sam didn't really notice, she was looking at the screen. "The hard drive is encrypted." she said, a little disappointed - although she knew she shouldn't have been, given how easy it had been to get the hard drive in the first place.

"Here, let me have a look." said Willow, coming over. She looked at the screen briefly, then laughed and began typing.

"What are you doing?" asked Sam curiously, finding it a little strange that someone other than her was doing something technologically based, for once. She found it rather pleasant.

"It seems as though the Initiative use the same encryption as the Mayor used for his files. And as I already hacked my way into them, this should be just as easy... Voila!" Willow said distractedly.

"Holy Hannah!" gasped Sam as the contents of the hard drive were revealed.

"What?" said Buffy tensely.

Willow answered. "Frankenstein. Professor Walsh was Frankenstein, and she was making Frankenstein's monster." she said, excitedly. Daniel couldn't help but wonder if that was entirely the wrong emotion for this situation.

"Oh, another Darryl Epps? Is that all?" said Buffy negligently, taking a bite from her hastily made sandwich.

"No..." said Willow, looking speed-reading through all the data that accompanied the image of the definitely Frankenstein-type monster. "More an amalgamation of demon, machine and human."

"So a little worse than Darryl, then." said Buffy calmly.

"Umm, no, not really Buff. More - well, a lot worse. I think that covers it." said Willow, a little nervously after having read some of the data. Daniel, despite not knowing what she had read, found himself wishing that Willow would go back to excitement.

It was more reassuring.

At that moment, Sam's phone rang. She looked at it briefly, then said "It's Jack." and answered it.

She listened calmly for a moment, then said "Okay, sir, we'll be right there." and ended the call. Then she said to the room in general "Someone has taken apart our plane."

Willow couldn't resist. "Well, gang, it looks as though we've got a mystery on our hands!"

~*~

Author's note: about the computers - I remember Willow using a laptop sometime in season six, but otherwise I think she mainly used the computers in the school library, which by this point have all exploded. Also, I'm fairly sure that the computer in Willow's house that Moloch sent her messages on wasn't a laptop, but I did explain that. Other than that, I don't think any other computers were seen, so I did my best to explain why. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Darryl Epps was the name of the creepy Frankenstein monster thing brought to life by his brother in "Some Assembly Required."


	29. Chapter 29

While Jack waited for the rest of the gang to turn up to examine the disassembled plane - well, in all honesty Jack couldn't really call it 'disassembled', given the fact that what was left was basically just the shell. The engine and the dashboard had all been removed, evidently by someone with a good working knowledge of how to take apart a plane - he wondered what should be done about Hailey. He had about fifteen and a half hours to go until she woke up, and Jack thought that it would definitely be a good thing to have her well away from here by then. He thought that Sam's decision to bring her here in the first place certainly hadn't been the most well thought out plan ever.

Unfortunately, that meant that someone would have to drive her there, because there wasn't a chance that Hailey could make it through a commercial airport unconscious. Furthermore, Jack was almost certain that it would end up being him that drove her - Sam was needed here to do science-y stuff, Teal'c had never gotten the hang of driving (he couldn't seem to get his head around the idea that the aim wasn't to push all the other cars off the road) and Daniel in a car was marginally slower than a speeding snail. And Jack highly doubted that Willow or any of her teenage friends would be up for a lovely ten-hour drive across states, and he had seen Giles' car. He was surprised that thing managed to move at all.

Still, Jack didn't need to deal with that until the others arrived.

~*~

"Do you have any idea what happened here, sir?" asked Sam, as she examined the gaping hole where the engine used to be.

"Nope." Jack answered shortly.

"Is it not evident that someone has taken necessary components for the flying of this object?" asked Teal'c.

Xander laughed, but when Teal'c turned to regard him coolly he quietened and said "Oh, you were serious."

"Yes, Teal'c, that's exactly what happened. There's nothing left here that would allow a plane to fly. Now we just need figure out who took it and why." said Sam, either ignoring or not noticing the fact that that was obvious.

"Ooh, that rhymed." said Willow. Sam, without looking, reached over and punched the redhead lightly on the shoulder "Hey, what was that for?" Willow said indignantly.

Before Sam had a chance to answer, Daniel - who, being both totally uninterested and completely unknowledgeable on all matters related to the internal combustion system of planes, had wandered off towards the nearby woods - called out "Guys, you might just want to come and see this."

Everyone hurried over to see what Daniel had found. For those who weren't familiar with the process of tracking someone - which, strangely enough, was only Willow and Daniel, everyone else knowing it by dint of either being a soldier, having vague memories of being a soldier, had been a vengeance demon who had occasionally tracked subjects of a wish to watch the wonderful havoc they caused, was an upper-class Englishman who had often gone hunting (whether he wanted to or not, due to an exceptionally strict father), was a werewolf or a Slayer, already knew - saw only a large, barefooted footprint.

To be fair, that's what the people who were more familiar with tracking saw too. They just noticed that it was considerably deeper than it would've been if they'd taken their shoe off and put their foot on impressionable soil. Which meant either someone was running barefoot, or was very, very heavy. Given the fact that this footprint was largely hidden by foliage, and only the keen observational powers of a bored Daniel had noticed it, and that there were no other visible footprints nearby, the more experienced military mind of SG-1 came to the conclusion that someone very, very heavy had recently walked by here, and covered its tracks as it went - and had only missed this one because either it hadn't noticed it, or because something had distracted it.

What this revealed was that the mechanical component of the plane enabling flight had been taken by a single, exceptionally dense humanoid. While Giles could have enumerated countless numbers of demons that fit that description, the fact was that even he was more inclined to believe that it was the work of the creature fashioned in the Initiative by one Maggie Walsh, whose military designation was 314.

But also went by the name of Adam.

~*~

Meanwhile, Spike was blissfully unaware of any of the discoveries that the Scoobies had made. He was busy crushing up some of Giles' sleeping pills - although, for someone who spent a great part of his nights awake, Spike wondered what exactly Giles had them for - so that he could give them to Riley, because he didn't particularly want to deal with the crazy soldier suffering from withdrawal, and with the chip in his head Spike unfortunately couldn't go for his favourite method of knocking someone out - hitting them over the head.

While Spike was doing this, he was listening to the news on Giles' television, if only because he was bored and he knew how much it annoyed the stuffy Watcher when he used it.

Although Spike was barely listening to the news, he was listening well enough that he heard something that he was _certain_ the Slayer and her clique with added military would be interested to hear.

Unfortunately for Spike, it was still daylight, and he didn't feel like turning himself into a crisp - besides, he was pretty sure that someone should keep an eye on Riley, even if Spike was the last person Riley would ever want to see.

Which meant that Spike had to call them, which meant he'd have to use his new-fangled mobile for the first time, which meant that he'd have to call the one person he had the number of. Sam. Spike wasn't any too keen on calling her, after the fiasco of a date that they'd had, despite Jim's amazing cooking. Still, this was important. He had to.

Oh joy.

~*~

"What lies over there?" asked Teal'c, pointing in the general direction that the owner of the footprint should have been heading for.

"I'm going to hazard a guess and say the woods." said Xander, somewhat flippantly.

"You mean you don't know?" said Daniel with some surprise. "I thought that this was your home town."

Xander shrugged. "Yeah, it is, but do I _look_ like the kind of person that spends a great deal of time exploring the great outdoors? I've always been a stay-at-home kind of guy, until Buffy came along, and then I was a nearly-get-killed-in-cemeteries-in-the-middle-of-the-night kind of guy."

"Yeah, we kind of stayed in the town." said Willow. "There's enough cemeteries there to deal with without wandering around in a forest."

"So you don't know what's out there." said Jack with a sigh. So much for that.

"That's pretty much the size of things, yes." Willow acknowledged.

At that point, Sam's phone rang. Upon seeing that it was an unknown number, she almost didn't answer, but then thought that as her number was unlisted, it was unlikely that it would be something like someone trying to sell her double-glazing. So Sam thought that she might as well answer.

"_Sam? Sam, are you there?_" came a voice - Spike's - blaring down the line.

"Yes, I'm here. Just a moment, I'll put you on loudspeaker." Sam answered, holding the phone a little distance from her ear. She didn't want to be deafened by a shouting vampire.

Sam pressed a button, then said to the assembled group "It's Spike."

"_I know it's me, I'm the one who's calling._" grumbled Spike.

Willow sighed "Spike, she wasn't talking to you, she was talking to the rest of us. Now, what did you want?"

"_Oh. Anyway, have you heard the news?_" Spike asked.

"No, we're out standing in a field, Spike. We haven't heard anything." Sam replied impatiently.

"_What are you on about, woman? I know you're outstanding in your field, that's why you're in your job, but why are you telling me?_" asked a very confused Spike.

Xander burst out laughing, but promptly shut up when Sam glared at him. "No, Spike, that's not what I said. We are in a field. As in countryside. Now, what did you want to tell us?" said Sam, her impatience now giving way to exasperation."

"_Oh, okay. Anyway, some little child has been killed. Brutally, too. Hung up by a tree and opened right up, like those rats people dissect in Biology lessons._ said Spike matter-of-factly. Willow, Xander and Daniel all retched at the image.

"Okay. Oh, Spike, would you happen to know-" Sam began, but Spike cut her off.

"_Got to go, Soldier Boy's waking up._" he said, ending the call abruptly.

"Sometimes, that guy really gets on my nerves." mutters Buffy.

"Come on, it's Spike. He gets on everyone's nerves." Xander said jovially, which was somewhat undermined by his slightly green face.

Sam didn't say anything, just stood looking at the phone.

"Well, I suppose we should get back to Giles'." said Jack decisively.

"Oh, do let's." murmured Giles.

"Yeah, we kind of need to figure what to do about Riley. And Hailey too, I suppose." said Daniel, gesturing to the unconscious figure of the young cadet.

"I suppose I'd better drive her back to Colorado." said Jack, morosely. When no one else came up with a better idea, he bent to pick up Hailey again, but Teal'c put out a hand to stop him.

"I will carry her to the vehicle." Teal'c said authoritatively. Jack nodded. He could live with that - and his knees would certainly prefer it.

~*~

When the gang made it back to Giles' house, minus Jack who had reluctantly decided that he had better make a start on things, they were welcomed by the unpleasant vista of a wide open door, which was something that no one ever wants to see.

The sight inside was just as unpleasant, if not more so. Spike was lying unconscious on the floor, the shattered remains of a plate lying near his head and some kind of white powder gracing his already pale hair. Then there was the armchair that was so much firewood, with bits of rope still attached to it.

Apparently, Riley Finn had escaped, and was loose once again, capable of terrorizing all he met with his horribly wrong-sided ideas. Buffy guessed he would've gone straight to the Initiative, which meant they had to go there too, if only to stop Riley from doing something that would get him shot.

Oh joy.


	30. Chapter 30

"Guys, we've got to go to the Initiative." said Buffy, brusquely.

"I appreciate that I might be missing something here, but why exactly?" asked Xander.

"Yes, I'm tired of traipsing around the place. Why is it necessary that we follow your crazy boyfriend? I feel that our time would be better spent here." said Anya grumpily.

"Well, Xan, if Riley's gone, then he's going to try and find answers about what happened to Walsh, and the only place he can do that is at the Initiative, seeing as he hasn't come to see us." answered Buffy, completely ignoring Anya.

"I've got to agree with Xander here. Why exactly are we going to follow the crazy guy who wanted to kill me into the headquarters of the crazy professor who wanted to kill you? Wouldn't they be better off being together?" asked Willow.

"Riley's suffering from drug withdrawal, not insanity, Willow. Besides, if he goes to the Initiative in his current state, he would almost certainly cause trouble there, which would probably be in our best interest to avoid. Especially with a boy-killing Frankenstein's monster on the loose." Daniel answered Willow before Buffy had a chance to.

"You're supposed to be on my side." Willow mumbled, too quietly for anyone to hear.

Buffy contemplated asking Willow to repeat herself, but decided that it wouldn't be worth the effort to do so. "Right, everyone who wants to help break into a top secret military installation in search of my boyfriend before he threatens to shoot someone who might actually shoot him back, raise your hands."

Sam, Willow, Daniel, Buffy, Teal'c, Oz and Xander all raised their hands, although Anya tried to pull Xander's down again. He said to her "I've broken into a military base before, it's not like it's anything new. I'm not even going to steal anything this time."

Daniel snorted with laughter, then said "In future, I'd recommend not confessing to stealing from the military in front of an officer." gesturing at Sam as he did so.

Sam smiled. "I'm sure he did it for a good cause. And that he gave it back afterwards." she said, glaring at Xander with mock sternness.

Xander ripped off a textbook salute. Sometimes having the memories of a soldier, however fuzzy, could come in handy. "Yes, ma'am. Used a rocket launcher to kill an invincible demon, ma'am."

"Although you did lose it promptly afterwards." said Giles, concealing a smirk.

Xander sagged slightly. "Yes, I'm still not quite sure how that happened. I've always blamed gremlins."

"Did you feed them after midnight? I understand that they can be most troublesome in that case." said Teal'c, seemingly perfectly seriously. It was impossible to tell whether he was or not.

"I - it was a joke." muttered Xander, evidently not sure whether he was being sent up or not.

Buffy, who had been getting increasingly more impatient as the nattering wore on, decided to interrupt it. "Okay, now that we've made the decision, shall we go?"

"Hey, do you have any of those cool stun guns? What did you call them, zits?" said Xander excitedly.

"Zats. And yes, we do have a spare." said Sam, seeing as how Jack hadn't taken one on his drive to Colorado. "Although, to be honest with you, I'd rather someone else took it rather than you."

"I'll take it." said Willow quickly, before Xander could protest. She guessed that, seeing as how she and Daniel had been sharing a body on the way here, they had only bought four Zats, and if the remaining members of SG-1 each had one, that left one spare. Willow felt more comfortable with one than most other kinds of weapons, considering she'd have to hit someone twice with it to kill someone, but it would be fairly easy to pull a Faith and accidentally kill someone with the melee weapons Buffy normally used.

Giles, seeing the mounting frustration in Buffy's face, said hurriedly "Okay, I think you'd better go now before Buffy explodes. I'll stay here and keep an eye on Spike." he said. Buffy smiled at him gratefully.

~*~

The group made their way to the frat house that Riley lived in, and where the only entrance to the Initiative that Buffy knew was. She thought that it was possible that they wouldn't have revoked her access yet, and that there would still be too much chaos for anyone to notice they were there, as long as it seemed as though they belonged there.

Unfortunately, as Buffy stood in front of the mirror (it had taken her a fair while to get everyone not to stand directly behind her) nothing happened. Apparently someone - Buffy hoped that it hadn't been Riley - had decided to revoke her access.

Sam was about to suggest they go in via the entrance that she had gotten Hailey through, when Teal'c pulled out his Zat and shot the door. Blue electricity flickered briefly over the mirror, and then the door that it disguised opened a crack, as its circuits were presumably shorted.

Fortunately, the elevator inside still worked (when Xander asked why, both Sam and Willow launched into a long explanation in which they finished each other's sentences. What Xander managed to get from the conversation was that the elevator and the door were isolated from each other) so the group began their descent into the bowels of the Initiative.

Although the elevator only took a few seconds, to the somewhat crowded group inside it, the downwards trip seemed to take much longer than that. However, when it arrived and the group gratefully spilled out, they are glad to see the busy nature of the various scientists below. No military personnel were to be seen.

"Hey, it's Angleman." said Buffy, pointing at the man in question.

"Indeed." said Teal'c.

"What he means to say is 'Who is Angleman?'" translated Daniel. After spending several years with Teal'c, he had come to be rather accomplished in translating his numerous "Indeed"s.

"He's the guy who we're going to get our answers from." said Buffy shortly.

The group headed purposefully for the scientist who, seemingly without noticing that they were walking towards him, went off into a room adjoining the vast, central room. Of course, the gang followed, although Willow couldn't help but think that it was odd that no one had tried to stop them, considering that half of them weren't dressed as scientists and they seemed to be one of the few groups not milling around aimlessly.

However, it was too late for Willow to voice any concerns when they finally got into the room holding one nonchalant Angleman sitting at the computer. "Hello, Ms Summers. I'd have thought you'd have arrived somewhat earlier than this." he said, without looking up.

"Well, that means that you have had more time than you needed to think about what you want to say to me." said Buffy. "So start!"

"Or it might mean that he's had more time than he needed to set a trap for you." said Willow, having already been put on her guard.

"Yes, your friend is correct. Security will no doubt be arriving at any second. They will have seen your arrival on the security screens." said Angleman triumphantly.

At that moment, a surprisingly calm-looking Riley - although everyone couldn't help but notice the pistol on his hip and one of the Initiative's versions of the Zat gun (Sam wondered if the NID had been behind them) cradled in his hands - entered the room and said "I'm afraid not, sir. The screens have been down for ten minutes now, despite all our technicians have done to try and get them back up."

Willow's bad feeling intensified. "We didn't do that, did we?" she asked, knowing that they hadn't.

"No, but I'm going to make a stab at it and say that he did." said Oz, pointing at a curious blend of demonic green, human white, and mechanical silver standing on a balcony overlooking the room that they hadn't even noticed was there.

Even as they looked, the creature that could only be Adam vaulted down, landing with an almighty thump several feet away. "Yes, I have turned off your screens, and isolated you from the outside world. Isn't it interesting to watch you scurry like ants in your panic?" he said in a deep, monotone voice that was nevertheless more human than robot.

"I can safely say no to that one." said Daniel.

Before Adam could respond with some sort of suitably pompous and megalomaniacal response, Riley lost his calm and shouted "Who - What are you? Did you kill the professor?" Riley shot him with the stun gun before Adam could answer, but when that had no effect as he dropped it and pointed his pistol at the monster.

Adam shrugged. "I am what Mother made me. I'm a kinematically redundant biomechanical humanoid. It's is all in here. I've seen it." he said, and even as he spoke a slot like a CD opening opened in his chest, and a CD came out. It was so incongruous that several members of the group giggled nervously, before Adam continued. "I have a purpose."

"Yes you do. And Maggie would want you to stand down until you can achieve that purpose correctly." said Angelman excitedly.

Adam looked at him. "Yes, I suppose she would. But, you see, she made me too human, and not enough. I will not, like a machine, meekly await orders, but I cannot do anything else. I will do what I was made to do, and I will do it now. And Mother will not stop me." he said coolly. Angleman shrunk back as Adam spoke.

"You killed her, didn't you!" shouted Riley, never one to let go of a point.

"Yes." said Adam flatly, and Riley flinched as though he had been hit. However, he rallied and prepared to shoot at Adam, but Adam closed the distance between the two incredibly quickly, and knocked the gun out of Riley's hand with one contemptuous swipe of his arm. Before anyone had gathered themselves enough to respond to the sudden onslaught, a long, thin bone skewer slid out of Adam's arm and into Riley's side. The soldier dropped like a stone.

Then people reacted. Several Zat blasts hit Adam at once, but that did nothing other than make him pause for a second. Then there was a crunching sound, as of breaking bones, and a wolfman - Oz, apparently he could now control the amount that he turned into a wolf - leapt at Adam, knocking him back as Oz snapped and slashed at any bit of yielding flesh he could find. It held back Adam for a few moments, but unfortunately stopped anyone from getting near enough to help, or from shooting Adam.

However, Adam soon hurled Oz off him, and the flying wolfman hit Buffy and Angleman (the scientist had sidled around to hide behind her during the fight) with enough force to knock them both against the wall. Buffy got up promptly, only being slightly dazed thanks to Slayer durability, but Angleman, judging by the angle his neck was twisted at, hadn't been so lucky. Perhaps hiding behind Buffy hadn't been the best decision.

Then Adam turned and began rapidly scaling the wall like a spider. It seemed odd to the more militaristically inclined in the group that he was running away, seeing as how nothing they were doing was having the slightest effect - even Oz's wolf attack had left no more than superficial wounds, and the rain of Zat fire hitting Adam's did nothing but make him hesitate for a fraction of a second whenever a shot managed to hit him - which wasn't much, considering the speed he was moving at.

Nevertheless, as the kinematically redundant biomechanical demonoid vanished, that gave Willow an idea. She scooped up Riley's abandoned stun gun.

However, at that point, wherever by accident or design, an alarm went off and military personnel began pouring in, headed by Riley's friend Forrest. He knelt down by Riley to examine the wound, then said to a couple other men "Take him to the infirmary." then he turned to the group, who he glared fiercely at. "I think you've all got some explaining to do. From the cells."

Sam stepped forward. "No, I don't think so. I outrank you, Sergeant, and these people are under my protection. We will of course be happy to answer any questions you might have, but not here and not now." she said brusquely.

"With all due respect, Major, this facility is classified Top Secret, and unless you have sufficient clearance, you've just broken the law," said Forrest bluntly.

"We have been given clearance. I suggest you take the matter up with your superiors. We're leaving now. Don't try to stop us." said Sam imperiously. Buffy fought the impulse to stick a tongue out at the military men from behind her back.

The group swept out, leaving a gawping Forrest staring after them.

~*~

A little while later, in the infirmary, a now conscious and somewhat less drug-addled Riley had a visitor.

"Hello, Brother. I have something to tell you." said Adam.


	31. Chapter 31

When the group returned to Giles' house after being, literally, knocked around by Adam, they found that Spike was awake and playing poker with Giles, each with a cup of tea. Well, Spike's was somewhat thicker and darker than normal tea, but as an English vampire he could hardly give up his national drink entirely. Anyway, it tasted just as good with blood in it. Because Giles had been unwilling to actually bet real money, but had eventually given into Spike's whining that the game was ruined without stakes, they had prepared a tally sheet. Of course, no one would actually win anything, but it satisfied Spike. Even though Giles was winning.

"I raise you 10 points." said Spike, not even glancing up when the gang came in. It was a lot of points - enough to put Spike in the lead if he won.

"He's bluffing." said Willow, to her own mild surprise. She barely knew the rules of the game, just enough to play it, but that didn't make Willow enough of an expert to be able to tell if Spike was bluffing. Perhaps it was something in his body language?

"Oh yes? Played a lot of poker, have you?" said Giles distractedly, not even looking at his cards but staring at Spike for any sign of a tell. Giles was a fairly experienced poker player - he had even had a stint as a card-sharp when he and Ethan had still been friends - but Spike had been playing longer than Giles had been alive. He knew that it was only because he had had good hands that Giles was winning now.

"I doubt it. But she's right, Spike's bluffing." said Sam, watching with interest. Despite Jack's many attempts to interest her in a game, Sam had never given it much of a try. She preferred to watch Jack play Teal'c - it always cracked her up when Jack had absolutely no idea if Teal'c was bluffing or not. However, she too was sure that Spike was bluffing, and like Willow, she wasn't sure why.

"Really? How can you tell?" asked Daniel, curiously. Unlike Sam, he had on occasion joined in Jack's poker games, and unlike Teal'c he just couldn't manage a poker face. However, he had some skill at telling when Jack was bluffing or genuinely had a good hand or not, but Spike, judging by his relaxed and easy posture, could have either.

"Are we really having a conversation about poker? Now?" asked Buffy to the room at large.

"Indeed." said Teal'c. Buffy looked at him, wondering what exactly he meant by that. She couldn't tell. Talk about a poker face.

"I'll see your 10 points." said Giles to Spike, wanting to finish the game before they moved on to other issues. He found himself enjoying it.

Spike grimaced, no longer needing a poker face, and laid out his cards. Two nines. He had been bluffing, although Giles hadn't picked up on it. Then Giles put down his cards, a royal flush. Only diamonds, but he knew that it was unlikely that Spike would've had a better hand than that, especially given his recent run of luck.

Spike took a gulp of his bloody tea, then extended a hand to Giles, saying "Congratulations." Giles, mildly surprised at the gesture, took the hand after a moment's hesitation, then promptly wished he hadn't. Spike put enough pressure in his grip that Giles had to bite his lip not to squeal. However, looking at Spike's face, Giles couldn't tell whether Spike even knew what he was doing - as a vampire, it was unlikely that he ever shook the hand of a human. Spike truly did have a good poker face.

Buffy, seeing her chance to talk to Giles about Adam - and Spike might even weigh in, although she thought his response would be something along the lines of "Good on him!" - opened her mouth to speak, but Willow spoke before her.

"Spike, do you mind if I shoot you?" Willow said innocuously, pointing the Initiative stun gun (the one that Riley had dropped) at Spike as though she had forgotten she was holding it.

Sam looked at her briefly, then smiled. "Now, she's _not_ bluffing." she said.

Spike blinked. "Is there any reason that the answer I'll give should be yes?" he said cautiously.

Daniel chuckled. "Way to hedge your bets." he murmured.

"Well, I've got a theory about Adam, but I want to test it before I put it into to action, and you're the only person here that getting electrocuted wouldn't injure. And besides, you're the only person here I wouldn't mind shooting." Willow said, adding the last part as an afterthought.

"You know, that really doesn't help convince me to help you shoot me." said Spike. "Shoot Buffy, she can take it. Or the alien."

"Hey!" said Buffy indignantly, although she didn't know why. It was pretty much what she would've expected from Spike.

Daniel, ever the mediator, decided to step in before this became a full-scale battle. "Willow, why don't you tell Spike why you want to shoot him? And be as polite as possible, there's no reason to be mean." he said, feeling like a primary school teacher - albeit one at a very strange school.

Xander snorted. "Haven't you met him?" he said. Then both Daniel and Spike glared at him.

Oz hadn't really been paying attention to the usual playful bickering. He found that he hadn't missed that part of being a Scooby. Oz had tuned out when Willow mentioned she had a theory, and was mentally re-running the incident in his head to try and see what it was. Of course, the fact that he'd been a wolf-man for a good part of it didn't help - at times like that, he became pretty much mindless determination and a brilliant sense of smell - and being thrown across the room hadn't helped much either. Then he had it, and wondered why no one else had. It seemed so obvious.

"The Initiative stun gun had no effect on Adam, but those alien stun guns - Zats? - made him pause whenever one hit him. Willow wants to shoot Spike with both, because that would be the fastest way to test the power of each weapon, and because Spike would be the least likely to be harmed. Then, should the Zat prove to have a higher power than the other weapon, she will propose to build something that produces considerably more Watts, because, although Adam seems to be able to absorb electrical energy given time, increased wattage might cause him to overload and explode." Oz said. He knew that he was speaking somewhat stiltedly, but he found that he generally did when he was upset about something and couldn't hide behind his usual monosyllabic, laconic façade.

"Uh, yes, exactly." said Willow with a stammer, which she wouldn't have had had it been anyone other than Oz speaking. She wondered what Oz was still doing here. He'd broken up with her, or she'd broken up with him, she wasn't entirely sure, but he was still here. Why didn't he just leave again? Willow found herself wondering whether she wanted him to or not. She thought that she wouldn't know until he left.

"Right, I didn't understand any of that, but it sounded as though shooting me would lead to something good." said Spike, mostly to himself. He would rather die than admit it, but he was playing an act at the moment. He wasn't fit to be sitting around playing poker. After being shot twice, and then having the bullets removed on the kitchen table, what he really should be doing was drinking lots and lots of blood, and then falling asleep for a few hours, upon which he'd be fine. What he didn't need was to be shot again.

"Yes, if I shoot you now, that will be the fastest way to see whether the plan will work or not, and then we can stop Adam before he kills more people." Willow said eagerly.

Spike tried really hard not to look at Sam and see how she was taking this, as she hadn't spoken yet. He didn't quite manage, but he couldn't tell anything from the look on her face. But he was pretty sure that if he were to have a shot with her, he'd have to stop being the brutal vampire he'd always been. Strangely, he found that that was a less abhorrent proposition than one leading to a distinct lack of Sam. So Spike sighed, stood up and moved around the other side of the table, quickly finished his blood-and-tea mixture before placing the cup on the table. "Go ahead." he said neutrally.

Willow hesitated a moment, and Spike noticed. It made him feel a little better. But that didn't stop her from pulling the trigger anyway.

The gun spat out what looked like a bolt of lightning, hitting Spike squarely in the chest. Willow, used to using the Zats, which had no recoil, had difficulty not jerking and accidentally shooting someone else. Spike's only reaction to being shot was a slight tightening of his facial muscles, and a minute change in his posture that looked like he was restraining himself, with difficulty, from knocking the gun out of Willow's hand and beating her over the head with it.

"Well, that was unpleasant." Spike said slowly, after a moment. By this point, Willow really didn't want to shoot Spike again - she'd seen the way that he'd reacted when she had, although she wasn't sure whether anyone else had - but it was necessary, the only way they knew of to kill Adam before he killed again. Willow had no choice. This time, Willow didn't hesitate, knowing that if she did there wasn't a chance that she'd actually be able to go through with it. So she pulled out the Zat that Sam had given her earlier, pointed it at Spike and shot him all in one motion.

This time, Spike actually convulsed, biting his lip so as not to cry out. Everyone, even Buffy, averted their eyes from the scene, finding it indecent to watch. If Spike were human, the Zat blast would've been sufficient to knock him out - but as a vampire, all it did was cause him agonizing pain.

It took Spike longer this time before he trusted himself to speak. "And that was really unpleasant." he said, then headed to Giles fridge, pulling out the sachets of blood and drinking them right there, not caring that it was cold, that it was stale animal blood, and above all not caring that people were watching.

"Well, at least we know..." murmured Willow, trailing off. She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

Sam went over to Spike and silently put her hand on his arm. Words were unnecessary. Spike looked at the hand for a moment, then enveloped it with one of his own.


	32. Chapter 32

Willow, having tested her hypothesis, was busy trying to think of some way that she could actually implement it, but wasn't having much success. She found that she kept drifting back to the way Spike had looked when she had shot him.

Willow knew that it had been necessary, that it might save lives in the long run. But, even though Spike had tried to kill Buffy and the rest of the Scooby Gang numerous times - he'd even broken into Willow's dormitory room, and only the chip had stopped him from turning her right there - but Spike had also stayed up all night with Willow while she waited for Oz to recover from being shot by Maybourne, and had gotten shot himself when he rescued her from the crazed Riley, even though his chip caused him agonizing pain from doing so. And Willow hadn't thanked him for either of those things, but had merely shot him instead.

Which was why Willow couldn't concentrate on anything else, and just kept guiltily thinking about what he'd looked like when she, Willow, had callously shot him.

Then Spike, after a murmured conversation with Sam - evidently neither of them wanted to be overheard - went upstairs, to crash on one of Giles' spare beds. He needed to sleep to accelerate his healing process.

Then Xander, who was normally entirely oblivious to that kind of thing - perhaps dating Anya, who was not only blunt but also couldn't seem to help spelling everything out, even, or perhaps especially, things that people didn't want to hear, had led to Xander being incapable of seeing anything that wasn't explicitly told to him - said to Sam neutrally "So, you and Spike?"

Everyone turned to Sam, eager to hear her answer. Both Teal'c and Daniel knew that there was something going on there - Jack had told them that much - but not whether it was reciprocated, and Willow had already noticed the puppy-dog eyes that Spike gave Sam whenever they were in the room together, and was mildly surprised that no one else had. To the others, this was the first time they'd thought about it, although they were now rerunning over earlier signs and wondering how on Earth they had missed it. Many surmised that they'd been too caught up with Daniel kissing Willow.

Sam shrugged, avoiding everyone's gaze - no mean feat in a room filled with people all looking at you - and said quietly "It's complicated." Which was true. She didn't know how she felt about Spike, or Jack. And given it had taken her about four years to realise that she loved Jack, despite his unattainability, she wondered how long it would take for her to realise how she felt about the pair of them.

Buffy, as curious as she was to hear more, recognized when someone was not going to talk about that topic now, and probably not in the future either. She'd been like that with her friends about Angel often enough - Buffy had even been like that with Angel - so she attempted to pull the conversation away from other peoples' love lives and back to the task of dealing with Adam. "So, guys, are we going to talk about Adam now? You know, the big Frankenstein's monster thing that threw us around? Willow, you've got a plan? Minimum science speak please." she said brusquely.

"Umm, yes, a plan." said Willow, looking down at her feet. Willow was having an attack of nerves after being put on the spot. She thought that she had gotten over that. Then suddenly an idea came to her, a way to implement the hypothesis that Oz had so neatly put into technobabble. She looked at Sam, and said "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Sam blinked. "That we can't just plug Adam into a wall socket?" she said.

Willow sighed. "Just once I wanted to say that and have someone actually thinking what I'm thinking." she said.

"Well, if you tell us what you're thinking, with as many words that I'll understand as possible, I'm sure none of us will have a problem in thinking what you're thinking." said Xander helpfully.

"Lightning spell." said Willow simply.

"Thank you, Willow, I understood that. Now why are we talking about electricity and all that stuff? Try not to be too science-y, you know I flunked physics." said Xander.

"That Initiative gun did nothing to Adam, whereas the Zats did. Therefore, the Zats have more power than the Initiative gun. If we find a way to hit Adam with something that has more power than a Zat, he might overload." said Daniel, of all people. When everyone looked at the archaeologist, he blushed lightly and said "What? If you spend enough time with Sam you'll understand some technobabble too."

"Yes, that's all very well, but Willow, you can't do a lightning spell. You'd have to change the entire weather pattern for miles around, and make sure that you don't disrupt the entire global weather system. Only specialist weather mages could try that, and only after training for years, and there haven't been any weather mages since the 16th century, when they killed themselves summoning a storm in Ireland." said Giles succinctly. Willow sighed again. Back to the drawing room.

Daniel's eyes widened in surprise. "1588? The storm that wiped out the Spanish armada? That was _magic_?" he asked incredulously. Giles just smiled at him mysteriously and didn't answer.

An idea hit Sam. "Tesla coil?" she asked Willow, for once glad that there was someone else around who understood her without her needing to explain, even if she didn't have a degree and was barely out if high school.

"We'd have to make it so that it had high current as well as voltage." Willow mused.

"We wouldn't be able to put it on a timer either, we'd need to lure Adam in close." Sam said, not answering Willow's idea but throwing another problem out there.

"Some kind of shielding?" Willow asked.

"Perhaps for one person, but we would need to be mobile to get Adam to stay in range of the coil, and run away again when it turned on. So who would operate it from inside the shielding?" That time, Sam did answer Willow's question.

"It would need to be someone who could fight Adam if he breached the shielding. Which is basically no one." Willow answered, frowning.

"Or someone who wouldn't be fried by the electricity in the first place." Sam added.

"Spike." They both said simultaneously.

The rest of the room watched the pair of scientists having a verbal tennis game with some interest, but mainly incomprehension. Finally, when it seemed as though they had finished, Daniel said "Okay, would you like to explain to the rest of us what you're talking about?"

"I thought you understood technobabble." said Willow, smiling.

"When you're speaking in full sentences, I understand some of it. The easy stuff. But that went way over my head." Daniel admitted.

Willow and Sam elaborated on the plan, finishing each other's sentences and generally giving other people a headache and not making things a whole lot clearer. By the end of it, they figured out that they wanted to build some kind of device that would emit electricity that would hopefully overload Adam, and that Spike needed to turn it on, because, as Willow had demonstrated, being electrocuted didn't kill him, merely caused him a great deal of pain.

~*~

While Sam and Willow were drawing up plans for how they would build the Tesla coil, and the rest of the group were planning how to get Adam into Sunnydale Plaza (Sam and Willow had deemed that to be the ideal place to set up the device) Buffy planned to go into the Initiative to see Riley. She was fully aware that her friends would think that that was a stupid idea, which was why she didn't tell them. She just slipped out.

To Buffy's dismay, Forrest was waiting by the hidden elevator in the frat house. He was just sitting there, staring at the ceiling. Buffy wondered what he was thinking about.

Forrest looked up when he heard Buffy enter the room. To her mild surprise, he didn't look hostile, as he had recently seemed to be every time she saw him. "You want to see Lieutenant Finn." Forrest stated rather than asked.

"Would you let me see him if I did?" Buffy hedged.

Forrest nodded. "He left orders that you were to be allowed to visit him if you came by." he said mildly. Buffy couldn't tell what he thought of that order.

"Let's go then!" Buffy said cheerfully.

~*~

Riley was glad when Buffy came, not only because he was happy to see her but because there was something that he wanted to tell her. Adam had come by to see him, and the things that he had told Riley - well, Riley couldn't think about that, simply couldn't believe what Adam told him about Walsh and himself and the whole Initiative project. He hadn't told anyone from the Initiative that Adam had come, but he could trust Buffy.

"Hey." Buffy said gently, taking hold of Riley's hand, who squeezed it gratefully.

Riley's throat convulsed as he tried to force the words out, but he couldn't. Why couldn't he? What was wrong with him? Riley tried again, but no success.

"Are you alright?" asked Buffy, looking at him oddly.

Riley gently took his hand out of Buffy's and scrubbed his eyes with it. Then he put it back down, idly tracing it on the hospital bed. "Yes, I suppose so." he said. He could hardly tell Buffy that there was something wrong and not tell her what it was, could he?

Buffy didn't answer. She was looking at what Riley's hand was tracing on the bed.

_Adam came Adam came Adam came Adam came Adam came Adam came Adam came Adam came_


	33. Chapter 33

Buffy didn't stay long with Riley after she noticed what his hand was tracing. Not only because she didn't know what to make of what his hand was tracing, but she didn't know why he didn't just tell her.

Buffy always thought better when she was walking. She'd come up with some of her best plans while out on patrol - she'd once even mentally written an entire English essay while slaying a couple of vampires. It had helped that they had been very bemused that she kept quoting Dickens at them - so she decided to take a longer route back to Giles's house in order to have more time to mull things over.

However, this being Sunnydale, the long route back was only marginally longer than the short route. During that time, the only thought that Buffy had had was that Riley was too scared of someone in the Initiative to talk to her about it - and perhaps this was the same person that had let Adam in in the first place?

Given that both Walsh and Engleman were dead, Buffy couldn't suspect them, although they were the obvious choice. Also, as Buffy wasn't well acquainted with many people in the Initiative, her suspects were limited to Forrest and the rest of Riley's friends, none of which Buffy really thought were on the side of Adam.

Which left some idea that Buffy hadn't had yet. Fortunately, by the time that Buffy had thought all of this through, she had arrived back at Giles' house. There were plenty of people that she could bounce ideas off in there.

Or perhaps not, thought Buffy, as she pushed open Giles door (she vaguely wondered if the Watcher even had a lock on it) to find the room empty apart from a large diagram on a large piece of paper for some kind of machine, surrounded by extremely complicated looking equations, and Giles, sipping tea and reading from one of his ancient tomes.

"Where is everyone?" Buffy asked, making sure to make a little bit of noise first. Once, she had spoken to Giles when he had been so deeply engrossed in a book that he hadn't heard her come in - although Giles had blamed her Slayer powers rather than his own inattentiveness for that - that he had spilled tea all over a priceless book. Giles had ranted at her for hours over that, and so Buffy made sure never to do it again.

"They've gone to buy various gadgetry to help make one rather large gadget, from what I gather." Giles answered, looking up. "And where did you sneak off to?"

Buffy ignored the sneaking suspicion that Giles already knew - or had already guessed - where she had been and answered the question. "I went to see Riley."

"Yes, I thought as much." Giles muttered into his tea cup.

"There's something... off about him." said Buffy, trying to articulate what she had felt upon meeting him.

"I should say so. I would think that anyone who wanted to shoot Willow would be more than a little off, don't you?" Giles answered.

"He traced a message to me, Giles. He wrote "Adam came" over and over again. Why wouldn't he just _tell_ me?" Buffy complained.

"Buffy, he's suffering from drug withdrawal. He's hardly likely to be rational." Giles replied reasonably. "Riley could be referring to the incident in which you met Adam yourself. Alternatively, it could just be paranoia."

"_No_, Giles, I know that Riley wasn't delirious. I could tell. The only reason I could come up with for him not to just spit it out was that he was scared of someone in the Initiative." Buffy said.

"You think that there's someone on the inside working with Adam." Giles said astutely. Buffy didn't answer, she just nodded.

"Well, Buffy, you might be right. Although why anyone would want to work with Frankenstein's monster with added technology is beyond me. Besides, what can you do about it? You may not like the Initiative, but they do have the best medical care in Sunnydale. It's unlikely that Riley would get better care anywhere else, and it didn't seem like Adam actually hurt Riley, did it?" Giles said.

Buffy conceded that he had a point. There was nothing she could do - right now. But she was the Slayer, she wasn't going to sit idly by and let some shady organization let some monster near her hospitalized sort-of-boyfriend, not if she could help it.

"Hey, Buff, you're back!" came the somewhat strained voice of Willow from the doorway. Buffy turned to see her friend standing there, the others following her, each weighed down by bags. She vaguely wondered what went into making a Tesla coil that required so much stuff.

Nevertheless, Buffy moved over to Willow and took the heavy bags from here, carrying them with ease.

~*~

While Sam would've been the best qualified to supervise the construction of the Tesla coil, she decided to leave it to Willow, who could do it equally well, and concentrate on something else.

The Tesla coil would be fairly big, and the range of the lightning would probably be thirty or forty feet or so, and said lightning would be very dangerous to any human who might happen to pass by. So Sam needed a place to put it, which was harder than it might seem.

They suspected that Adam had some kind of lair beyond the woods, but, even if he did, the gang could hardly bring the coil all that way - if only because there wasn't an extension lead nearly that long, and the type of industrial batteries they would need to power the coil were simply unavailable in Sunnydale. Which meant that the coil would have to be plugged into a step-up generator, which Willow was also helping to build, and run on power from the mains supply.

Having already discussed this with Willow while they were still formulating their designs, Sam had found that the only suitable place for the coil was Sunnydale Square, a largish plaza in the centre of town.

However, that location also had its problems, namely the fact that it was in the centre of town. Sunnydale wasn't so small that there wouldn't be people passing through there, and it probably wouldn't be the best of ideas to expose them to bolts of lightning that would almost certainly kill them, not to mention Adam, who certainly would.

Which was why Sam was calling Jack. Sam knew that she needed to have to evacuate that whole area, but she didn't know anyone in authority in Sunnydale who could arrange that (and given that Willow had told her what had happened to the Mayor last year, Sam wasn't entirely sure that was a bad thing) and she didn't really have the time to make these contacts.

Which was where Jack came in. Although he was currently transporting the currently unconscious and soon to be amnesiac Hailey back to the Airforce Academy, Jack was still the ranking officer of the group, and he was the only person who had the time to persuade Hammond to use his influence as the General of a top-secret base to evacuate Sunnydale.

"_What do you want, Carter?_" asked Jack as soon as he picked up the phone.

"Can't I just call my colonel as a social call?" Sam asked jovially.

"_No, you can't. If you were Daniel, maybe. But not you, Carter, you don't do social calls. So why don't you tell me what you want._" Jack answered.

Sam sighed. "I want you to call Hammond, arrange for him to evacuate the town." she told him brusquely.

"_Why? You bring in a horde of Airforce cadets that are in danger of getting slaughtered?_" Jack said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Right about now, Sam wished that she hadn't called Jack. She'd forgotten how poorly he did when he was trapped far away from the action - and Jack tended to take his frustrations out on those around him.

"Jack..." said Sam, warningly.

Jack made a sound which might've been him sighing. Either that or blowing into the mouthpiece in annoyance. Sam thought it could've been either. After a moment, Jack said "_I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. No doubt you've put the actual citizens of Sunnydale in danger of being slaughtered._"

"No! Well, actually, kind of yes. We're building a device that we think might kill Adam, but it's dangerous and we need to put it in a central place. We're not too keen on collateral fatalities, so we need that area to be evacuated at the very least." Sam answered.

"_Let me guess... it's not a bomb, you're not that type. I doubt you've got a pit of acid hidden around somewhere, so not that. So what are you going to do, electrocute him? I'm right, aren't I?_" Jack said triumphantly.

"Yes. How did you know?" said Sam, somewhat taken aback.

"_I know my Sam. So, I'll get Hammond to arrange a storm warning or something, alright?_" Jack asked.

"Yes, thanks, that would be perfect." said Sam. "Bye."

"_See you._" Jack said, before hanging up.

Then Sam got to work helping to build the Tesla coil and the step-up generator, thinking as she did so that at least it was an excuse to keep her from having to wake up Spike and tell him that they needed him to turn on a machine that would electrocute him.

She wasn't looking forward to that.

~*~

Author's note: as for the length of lightning made by a Tesla coil, Tesla himself only managed one a little over a hundred foot long, which is the record. Other than him, the record was something like seventy feet long. Therefore, thirty/forty feet is perfectly reasonable.

Also, there is a spin-off from this story, "The Adventure of Dru the Ensouled", is now finished. You need to read it before I upload he next couple of chapters, otherwise you won't understand what is going on.


	34. Chapter 34

The Tesla coil was built, as was the step-up generator that was needed to provide the necessary power for it to work from the mains. It had taken hours, and in the middle of it Jack called to say that Hammond had arranged for a storm warning to be issued in two days' time - which meant that they had that long to figure out a way to lure Adam to the device in the first place.

First of all, though, someone had to convince Spike to turn on the machine and get electrocuted again. It didn't seem like an easy job, and they could hardly threaten him into doing it. Unsurprisingly, the task fell on Sam's shoulders.

Sam knocked on the door that led to the room which Spike had claimed, but got no answer. Hesitating for only a split second, she opened it and quietly walked in.

Spike hadn't bothered to undress, although he had taken the trouble to remove his leather duster. He had merely sprawled on the surface of the bed, and was lying perfectly still.

Sam thought that Spike looked different while he was asleep. When he was awake, he was a man of action, always seeming ready to do _something_. He seemed so fiery, normally.

Now, he didn't. Spike looked like he was at peace, like whatever drove him during his waking hours was slumbering alongside him. Sam had noticed that Jack looked much the same, whilst he slept - she'd seen him several times when they were on missions off world together.

"Spike?" Sam called, quietly at first, but then louder when the vampire in question didn't respond. Sam wondered how deeply a vampire normally slept, and if one slept any deeper when they were sleeping to recover from injuries. Janet would probably love to examine one.

Still, Spike didn't respond. He hadn't moved at all. Briefly, Sam wondered if he might be dead, but quickly dismissed that as irrational - although she couldn't entirely dismiss the feeling of panic that accompanied the thought. Anyway, didn't vampires turn to dust when they died? Sam was sure that Willow had mentioned that. Besides, Spike hadn't been staked or decapitated, so he really shouldn't be dead. Or no longer undead, Sam supposed.

Still, Sam couldn't quite shrug off a slight feeling of nervousness. She could hardly check Spike for a pulse - the man had no heartbeat - and Sam couldn't think of anything else to do other than shaking him, which probably wasn't the best of ideas.

Sam was very surprised when she found herself with her hand on Spike's shoulder. She had no recollection of putting it there, or even of planning to put it there. She put it down to instinct.

However, Sam was infinitely more surprised when Spike caught her wrist, twisting it painfully whilst jerking himself upright, and, his face ridged and his eyes yellow, he put his rather elongated teeth against Sam's throat.

It all happened in rather less than a second - vampires can move _very_ fast when they want to - but Spike quickly woke up fully, and, ashamed of his reflex action upon being awakened, hurled himself away from Sam, back across the bed, stammering an apology.

Only then did Sam's heart start beating rapidly, and she realised that, if Spike hadn't pulled away, she would be dead by now and there would be absolutely nothing that she could've done to stop it.

Sam could've made light of the situation, say that she was like that in the mornings - Daniel certainly was - but she didn't. She didn't wait for her heart to stop beating so rapidly, she merely walked round the bed - oddly enough, Spike seemed afraid that she was coming towards him - and put her hands on each of Spike's shoulders. He flinched.

"Look at me." Sam said, seeing as how Spike was looking at everything but her. Eventually, Spike managed it. Sam, looking into Spike's eyes, said "It's okay. Really, it is."

Spike broke away from her. "No, it's _not_ okay! I nearly killed you, just because you woke me up!" he nearly shouted. Sam hoped that the others couldn't hear them.

"Spike, I'm not a porcelain doll. I've nearly been killed before - hell, I have been killed before! You don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself." Sam said in a level voice.

Spike caught her eye, smiled grimly, hated himself for it, and said "Really? How's your wrist, then?"

Ah. Now that Spike mentioned it, it was rather painful. Nevertheless, Sam shrugged it off, saying "I've had worse injuries."

Spike growled. "That's not the point, Sam, and you know it. I could've killed you just now." he snarled. He wasn't angry at Sam, not really, but he could hardly snarl at himself. Although he was absolutely certain that he'd be in for a bout of Angelesque self-recrimination later.

"But the point is you didn't. You could've, and there wouldn't have been a single thing that I could do to stop you, but you stopped yourself, Spike. You. Just you." Sam said, smiling slightly.

Spike sat on the bed and muttered "That doesn't make me feel any better."

Sam sat beside him, took one of his hands in her own, ignoring her aching wrist. Spike noticed that the wrist was already purpling, bruises in the shape of his fingers appearing on her skin. He ran a finger down them, and Sam erupted in goose bumps from the touch. Spike noticed, but didn't let on.

"No, I'm sure that it doesn't make you feel better." Sam said, quietly, barely more than a throaty murmur. "But I'm still here, Spike. I don't mind." She took a deep breath, repeated herself "I don't mind."

Spike looked up sharply, eyes boring into hers. "Really?" he said. Sam, suddenly finding that she didn't have enough breath to speak, merely nodded. Spike's answering smile was radiant. "Well now, isn't that something."

They sat in silence for several moments, each indulging in their own thoughts. Then Spike asked, reluctantly - he didn't want this moment to end - "Why did you come up here, anyway?"

The thought of what she was going to ask Spike to do splashed over Sam like cold water, absolutely ruining the mood. Spike noticed, and, frowning, asked "What's wrong?"

Sam took a deep breath, was about to speak, changed her mind and let it out again. Then, she began speaking before her will to do so faded entirely. "Willow and I have designed a device, and the rest of the group have helped to build it. We think that it will kill Adam." Spike's eyes narrowed, sensing a catch coming. Sam took another deep breath. "We need someone to turn it on."

"You want me to get electrocuted again." Spike said. As his face had become an inscrutable mask, and his voice was bland, Sam couldn't tell what he thought of the proposition. She nodded.

"No." he said flatly. Sam's breath whooshed out of her - she hadn't realised that she'd been holding it. Spike stood up, pulling his hand from hers, then paced the room briefly. Then he repeated himself: "No."

Then Spike left.

~*~

After a second, Sam went downstairs. She'd heard a crash, and a yelp of pain. She went down to see Buffy helping Xander up, the front door open and a figure wrapped in a blanket running down the street.

Willow sighed, saying "I guess he didn't take it so well."

Sam looked down, rubbing her injured wrist. "I guess not." she murmured, so quietly that no one could hear her.

~*~

When Spike left, he headed straight to a demon bar. Not Willy's, the Slayer knew about that one and would probably look for him there. He headed to one of the less salubrious drinking establishments, of which Sunnydale had a surprising amount.

Spike sat himself at the bar - despite being open 24 hours, most demon bars didn't do much trade during the day, even in Sunnydale. Too many demons were nocturnal, so the place was mostly empty - and ordered a pint. To his mild surprise, he was given one promptly. The service in most of these bars was usually awful.

He drank the pint in a few seconds, told the barkeep to keep them coming. The barkeep nodded - at least, Spike assumed he did. The barkeeper was a peculiar type of troll with its head protruding from its stomach.

It was somewhere around Spike's twelfth pint - he'd slowed down his drinking considerably when he remembered his lack of funds, and just hoped he had enough to get roaring drunk. Given that he had a vampiric metabolism, he was barely even tipsy yet - when he heard a familiar voice.

"You're in the wrong place, William." Spike stiffened, wondering if he had indeed heard what he thought he'd just heard, or if someone had spiked his drink. He turned around.

To his mild surprise, Spike hadn't imagined it. Drusilla was standing there, looking the same as she ever had. Standing at her shoulder and slightly behind her was a suited man with dark hair and green eyes. Spike briefly wondered who he was, but then decided that he didn't care and finished his pint.

Only then did Spike say anything. "And where exactly should I be, Dru?" he said, speech slurring slightly. He wasn't really that drunk, but he was just drunk enough to think that it seemed suitable.

"You know exactly where you should be." Drusilla answered.

Spike focused. There was something odd about this, but he couldn't quite lay his finger on it... then he had it. "Dru, how long have you been sane?" he asked mildly.

Drusilla slapped him. "Stop changing the subject, William. You know where you should be, and I suggest you get back there." Spike touched the spot where Drusilla had slapped him - it hadn't been a hard slap, but still, Spike was surprised that she had done it all.

"She wants to electrocute me, Love." Spike noticed the brief flicker of surprise followed by anger that passed over the other man's face at the word _Love_. So, it seemed that Drusilla had moved on. Good on her. "I'm not particularly keen on heading back there."

Drusilla turned to look at the other man, who nodded then wavered like a heat mirage. Then he was gone. Spike blinked in surprise. He'd never seen anything like that before.

Drusilla closed one eye, then the other, then both. "She doesn't want to electrocute you, you know." she said. Spike noticed her hands were balled into fists and that a thread of tension had made its way into her voice. He wondered what was going on here.

But Spike knew it was true, what Drusilla was telling him. Sam _didn't_ want to electrocute him. That had been evident by her change in demeanour when he had asked her what she had wakened him for. That had taken the wind from her sails more than him nearly killing her.

However, the fact remained that even though Sam didn't want Spike to be electrocuted, she had still asked him to be. Spike couldn't quite get over that.

"And just how difficult do you think it was for her to ask you?" Drusilla said, almost as though she was following on from Spike's train of thought - which, given her psychic abilities, might well be the case. Spike noticed that her voice was even tenser, and he wouldn't be surprised if her nails were drawing blood from her palms, so strongly was she clenching her fists.

Spike sighed noisily. Drusilla had a point, one that Spike had been trying not to dwell on. Would Sam have asked him at all if it hadn't been the only way?

Spike was pretty sure she wouldn't have. He thought Sam would've chosen another way, if one had existed.

Drusilla smiled, a bittersweet smile that quickly dropped her face as she began to make a high pitched keening sound. Spike started towards her, but promptly stopped when he saw that half the flesh on her face had vanished.

Suddenly, the suited man appeared again, caught Drusilla and then vanished as promptly as he had arrived.

Spike blinked, wondering if he was dreaming after all. Then he shrugged. There was nothing he could do about it in either case.

Besides, Spike had an apology to make.


	35. Chapter 35

Although the sun hadn't entirely set by the time Spike left the demon bar, it was low enough on the horizon to be obscured by the surrounding buildings, so Spike didn't have to wrap himself in a blanket. Which was good, seeing as how the idea of making an apology was bad enough in itself, never mind having to make it whilst cowering beneath a blanket.

While Spike made his way to Giles' house, he found that, despite the extrovert nature he had gained when Drusilla had sired him, he was wondering what had caused him to run away in the first place. After all, being electrocuted was hardly the first dangerous and painful thing he'd done - he'd killed two Slayers, after all - and he hadn't flinched from anything else.

Which, although Spike tried not to think about it, meant that there was another reason entirely for why he had acted the way he had. And Spike had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what it was, and he wasn't keen on facing it.

Always before, Spike had only been out for himself, him and Drusilla. He hadn't helped Buffy stop Acathla out of any altruistic motives, but merely because it would lead to the end of his fun. And he couldn't be having with that.

But Spike was struggling to see where the selfish motive was in helping to stop Adam. After all, the thing apparently only wanted to kill people and wreak havoc, which Spike was normally all in favour of.

Which meant that the only reason that Spike was going to go through with it, the _only_ reason, was because Sam had asked him to.

Was Spike willing to change the habits of a life time - more than a life time - solely because a woman that he happened to fancy asked him to?

Apparently, Spike thought as he knocked on Giles' door, the answer was yes.

~*~

When Willow heard the sound of knocking, she strode over to the door, opened it, saw that it was Spike, eeped and promptly closed it again. Then Willow hissed at the others who were gathered in Giles living room "It's Spike!"

The group instantly began talking amongst themselves about what they should do about this situation - although babbling might be a more correct term - and just as quickly stopped when Sam got up, cradling her injured wrist, and walked out the room, down the corridor and opened the door.

Although none of the group had followed Sam, she felt no doubt that they were doing their utmost to eavesdrop on what she was going to say. Sam didn't really care.

"You're back." Sam said, although it sounded more like a question than a statement. Spike couldn't blame her for that.

"Yes. Yes I am." Spike said simply.

"Staying?" Sam asked, looking at a point six inches to the left of Spike's face. She couldn't bring herself to look at him directly.

"Do you want me to?" Spike responded.

Sam didn't answer. She couldn't, because she didn't know whether she wanted Spike to stay or not. She'd had mixed feelings when Willow had told them that he was at the door.

However, even if she didn't know the answer to that question, Sam did know that Spike was their best chance of stopping Adam. Which meant that he had to be around for at least a while longer. She hoped that she would be able to figure out what she felt about him by then - although she doubted it, given how long it had taken her to figure out how she felt about Jack.

So Sam settled for saying "Come in." and heading back to the living room, not looking back to see whether Spike would follow or not.

Spike hesitated a moment, before giving up - he'd come this far, he wasn't going to disappear into the night now - and followed Sam into the living room.

Naturally enough, feelings in the room were somewhat mixed about Spike's reappearance.

Xander wasn't pleased. He didn't like any vampires, and the only reason that he liked Spike somewhat more than Angel was because Spike had never dated Buffy. Added to that was the fact that Spike had knocked him to the floor on his way out and Xander wished (although he would never wish aloud, of course) that Spike hadn't come back.

That was not to say that Xander didn't understand that Spike was necessary for this particular plan - although he didn't quite understand _why_, only that he was - but that didn't mean that he wanted him around.

Giles, on the other hand, felt differently. Perhaps it was his recent run-in with Ethan, but Spike reminded Giles a little of what he had been like when he had been younger.

Both Giles and Ethan had caused their fair share of chaos, but Giles had found his way out, become a good man, whereas Ethan never had. So Giles recognized the face of someone who was trying to change - he'd seen it often enough in the mirror - and Spike had that face. So Giles was glad that Spike had made the choice to come back, it would be good for him.

The rest of the group, to varying degrees (although the other members of SG-1, not knowing Spike nearly as well as the Scoobies, definitely felt it to a lesser degree) felt a mixture of what these two felt. Buffy for example, despite her dislike for Spike, couldn't help but be surprised that he was still around, and wondered what that said about him.

However, despite that, the fact remained that without Spike their plan simply wouldn't work, so whether they wanted him around or not, he had to stay at least until the plan came to fruition.

However, in order for the plan to come into fruition in the first place, the gang had to come up with some way to lure Adam close enough to the Tesla coil for it to cause him to overload.

Buffy, however, had an idea on that front.

Adam had, for whatever reason, broken into the Initiative to speak to Riley. Now, Riley wouldn't - or couldn't - tell Buffy what Adam had told him, but, at the moment, that was irrelevant.

The fact was that Adam wanted Riley for something, and wanted him alive. Buffy had no doubts that Adam could've killed Riley without a second thought, but had only stabbed him to take him out of play, so that Adam could talk to him without Riley running away.

Which meant that if they could get Riley to the Tesla coil in a couple of days' time, there was a good chance that Adam would turn up to take him back, or something. Buffy wasn't too sure what, but she was pretty sure that it was the best chance that they had at the moment.

"So, who's up for helping me break Riley out of the Initiative?" Buffy asked of the group in general.

"I thought that we agreed that it would be best to leave him there for the moment." said Giles, frowning.

"Yeah, I'm all for leaving Riley in the care of other crazy soldiers until he stops being crazy." said Xander. For all that Xander preferred Riley to any of Buffy's previous boyfriends (well, it was hard not to when one of them was a vampire and the other had left her after a one night stand), he still wasn't any too fond of someone who would pull a gun on Willow, although he was willing to accept that that had been Walsh's fault for secretly drugging him.

Buffy sighed, and briefly outlined her reasoning behind her proposal.

"What guarantee do we have that Adam will come for Riley in the first place? Your reasoning is tenuous at best." said Teal'c mildly.

"Got a better plan?" Buffy said, looking at him.

"I do not. But I do feel that your feelings for your boyfriend may be affecting your judgement." Teal'c answered.

Before Buffy had a chance to say anything, Daniel said "No, she has a point. Adam clearly wants Riley for something, so there's no reason to suspect that he wouldn't come for him."

"Anyway, even if Adam doesn't turn up, it's the only plan that we have. So we might as well go for it." said Willow.

"So you're up for it, then?" Buffy asked.

Everyone answered something on the theme of "Why not?"

Except for Spike. He said "Can I help?"

Buffy gave a long, calculating look, before saying "Sure." Spike grinned.

Sam felt the sudden urge to kiss Spike, but it went as fast as it had come, leaving her shocked.


	36. Chapter 36

Although the gang was rather tired, due to the day they had had and the late hour, they decided that there was no time like the present to break into the Initiative. If they were tired, there was a good chance that the people there would be too. And if the military people were off chasing vampires or something, and the scientists were asleep, now would probably be the best chance they had to get Riley. So they quickly hatched a plan and went.

Except for Giles. If it were a raid into some kind of demons nest, he'd be in like a shot, but as it was he felt that it would be best if someone remained behind.

So Giles was moderately surprised to find that he wasn't the only person to stay. Oz had, as well. After a few moments of awkward silence, Giles said "You're still here."

Oz shrugged. "Apparently." he answered, in his standard laconic manner.

"You planning on going at some point?" Giles enquired. He was somewhat uncomfortable being around Oz, given his previous abandonment of the Scoobies. Giles wasn't sure whether Willow had accepted him back or not, and he wasn't even sure if he himself wanted Oz back.

"I was just debating the issue." Oz answered.

"Come to any conclusions?"

"I was thinking it would be better if I went."

Giles, suddenly unsure as to whether they were both talking about the same thing, searched for something to say. However, he didn't quite manage in time, as Oz left before Giles could say a word.

Giles watched him go up the driveway for a moment, then shrugged and went to make himself some tea whilst he wondered what had just happened.

~*~

Buffy went alone to the room containing the secret lift into the Initiative. She thought if there was someone waiting there, like there had been before, then that would probably be the easiest way to get to Riley. Of course, then they'd have to get Riley _out_, which probably wouldn't be so easy.

As it turned out, there was someone there. Buffy didn't know him, but she could tell he was military from the way he sat, and the casual clothes weren't fooling her. "Hi there." Buffy said.

"Ms Summers." he said, with a nod. Buffy wondered who had told him about her.

"Please, call me Buffy. Can I see Riley?" Buffy asked.

"Of course, ma'a- Buffy. Just a moment." he said, reaching for some kind of walkie-talkie thing at his belt.

Buffy, not wanting more people to be around than strictly necessary, said "I don't suppose Riley has recovered enough to be moved from the infirmary yet?" she was gratified to see the man's hand stop moving as he frowned.

"I don't believe so. Should I contact the infirmary?" he asked solicitously. Then sagged as he was Zatted.

Buffy sighed. "I don't believe that will be necessary." she said to the unconscious body. The rest of the group filed into the room, Teal'c holding his Zat.

Thankfully, the lift door hadn't been fixed yet, so the group had no trouble descending into the depths of the Initiative.

Buffy, Willow and Xander headed to the infirmary, whilst Daniel took up a position near the corridor leading to the infirmary. Sam set up in front of the lift, whilst Spike and Teal'c stayed in the middle of the large, central room.

As soon as the three Scoobies were out of sight, Spike vamped out and began snarling and roaring at the few workers who were still there. He began hurling tables, chairs, papers, anything he could get his hands on. In their panic to avoid the crazed vampire in their midst, the scientists didn't notice how careful Spike was not to actually hit anyone with anything, or in fact come close to anyone. They were too busy setting off alarms.

As the soldiers began to trickle in, taking pot shots at Spike with their stun guns so as not to accidentally injure anyone else in the room, the vampire began to whirl around, never in any one place long enough to be hit. All the while, he caused havoc wherever he went.

Sam couldn't help but wonder how many of these people Spike could've killed, had he not been chipped.

But still, eventually there were too many soldiers for Spike to keep evading all their shots, so Teal'c would sidle up to the soldiers and Zat them in the back. In the confusion, no one noticed them drop.

Then the three Scoobies came back, Buffy and Xander supporting an unconscious Riley between them. Daniel escorted them to the lift, no longer bothering to look like he was trying to take down the vampire, he was taking shots at every soldier in his way.

By the time the soldiers figured out what was going on, Daniel and the others were already half-way across the room, and Sam was raining Zat blasts down on them with deadly accuracy.

However, it is considerably easier to aim at a group of people carrying an unconscious person than a vampire who doesn't want to be hit, so the soldiers began to aim at the Scoobies instead of Spike.

Spike, however, was having none of that. He knew that if the humans were hit with even one shot from the stun guns, they'd be out like a light and these guys would probably put them in cages and put chips in them, or some such. Lord knew what they'd do with Teal'c.

So Spike intercepted the first three shots, teeth clenched in agony as he did so. Sam let out an animalistic cry as she saw Spike get hit, his supernatural grace leaving him. She took out the people who had shot him, but there were still too many of them, and even with his vampiric durability Spike couldn't hold out much longer. He probably wouldn't even make it until the group made it to the lift.

Which was where Willow came in. She stiffened when the first shots hit Spike, although she was looking away from him as they did so. Without stopping to think, she reached out with her mind, finding the stun guns. It was a simple matter to overload them so the next shot fired stunned the firer rather than anyone else.

However, Willow, having gotten used to having the power boost that came with the Atanik armbands, didn't realise that this overtaxed her already overused magical ability. She collapsed unconscious, at more or less the same time as the remaining soldiers did so.

Daniel caught her before she hit the ground.

~*~

Giles wasn't unduly surprised when the group made it back looking as though they were half asleep. Or, in some cases, actually asleep.

Daniel was still carrying the unconscious Willow, whilst Sam was supporting Spike, who despite being awake contrived to look even more asleep than Willow did. Giles didn't even know how that was possible. Buffy and Xander were taking the still-unconscious Riley between them, and both of them looked more or less dead on their feet. Only Teal'c looked alert.

Still, they'd done all that they would be able to do, today. As everyone began heading off to their respective sleeping places - Daniel was taking Willow to her parents' house, and Teal'c was going with them. Spike refused to move another step and collapsed on Giles sofa (Giles, oddly enough, didn't mind all that much) and Sam took one of Giles spare rooms. Xander went back to his parents' basement, muttering something about Anya, whilst Buffy went to take Riley home. Giles wondered how Buffy would explain that to Joyce - Giles wondered what had happened to Oz. He expected that if something bad had happened to the little werewolf, he would've been told about it.

Which lead Giles to assume that Oz had left again. He wondered how Willow would take that.

Although, having seen the tender expression on Daniel's face as he carried her home, and the kiss they had shared earlier, Giles suspected that Willow probably wouldn't mind all that much.

Still, that was something that could be dealt with in the morning, after a good night's sleep.


	37. Chapter 37

Willow was mildly surprised when she found herself waking up in her own bed, fully dressed. She couldn't remember the last time that that had happened to her. No matter how tired she was after going out on a patrol, -and given that Willow didn't have the Slayer ability to get by with more or less no sleep, she was usually exhausted - she always managed to take her clothes off before collapsing into bed.

So, this strange event naturally led Willow to wonder exactly what it was that she'd been doing last night.

For a frightening moment, Willow couldn't remember. But it soon came back to her. Drusilla had toppled a bookcase on her, and she was in hospital.

Willow frowned, her eyes still closed. No, that wasn't it. That had happened years ago. Besides, she would be in hospital rather than her own bed, which she was certain she was in.

Then Willow remembered the savage joy she'd felt at the violence and mayhem she had caused while wearing the Atanik armbands. Had she lost control and had to be knocked out?

That wasn't it, either, although it was closer. Ah, Willow had it! She must've overtaxed herself magically when she had stopped those soldiers in the Initiative from shooting Spike again. Willow realised that she really need to dial back on the magic, if she wanted to stop that from happening again.

Finally, Willow, being satisfied that she remembered what had happened, opened her eyes. First of all, she noticed that she was correct, and she was indeed in her room. Judging by the sunlight sneaking it's way around the edge of the curtains, it was still morning, a hypothesis borne out by the alarm clock on Willow's bedside table, which read 10:04.

Then Willow noticed Daniel asleep on a chair next to her bed. Which explained why she was in bed with her clothes still on. Willow smiled to herself as she realised that he must've carried her here while she was unconscious.

Willow got up quietly, so as not to disturb Daniel. She suspected that he had had considerably less sleep than she had had, and he deserved some.

Besides, Willow thought, he looked so cute when he was asleep and he was still wearing glasses.

~*~

Meanwhile, in Giles' house, Spike found himself in a similar situation. That is, he found himself waking up while still in his clothes. However, Spike hadn't tired himself out magically, like Willow, and if a vampire didn't manage to go from asleep to awake more or less instantly, he would become a deader-than-usual vampire. As such, Spike knew exactly what had happened to him the previous night.

In fact, Spike remembered _everything_ that had happened last night. Including the look on Sam's face when he had taken those shots. He'd been too far away to hear her cry out, and even vampiric hearing wouldn't have helped him over the din he was making, but still, that face clearly showed that Sam cared for him.

Spike smirked, then stretched luxuriously as he got up. He really hoped that Giles still had some blood left over, even if it was animal. Spike didn't think he could face a run down to his newfound crypt to get his own blood, especially given the daylight outside.

Nevertheless, Spike was surprised to find Sam sitting curled up in one of Giles' armchairs, fast asleep. Spike wondered how she had managed to bend that much - she must have the spine of a cat.

Still, Spike was sure that Sam had taken one of Giles' spare rooms. He felt oddly happy to see that she was down here. Down here with him, that is.

Spike left her to sleep as he headed for the fridge. Sam looked so peaceful.

~*~

Meanwhile, Riley was also waking up with his clothes on. However, given that he'd been in a drug-addled stupor when the Scoobies had rescued him - Riley's doctors had thought it best that he not feel the pain of his stab wound, and they were also giving him drugs to help him through his withdrawal from the drugs Walsh had been giving him. He just hoped that they weren't giving him more of the same drugs - he had no idea where he was, or why.

However, unlike both Sam and Daniel, Buffy needed barely any sleep. She'd spent most of the morning hovering around Riley's bedside - something that she was proud of doing, given how difficult she found it to wait around graveyards, which was basically her job. Slayers weren't meant to sit still.

So Buffy was more than somewhat offended when Riley opened his eyes with a look of unreasoning terror that only grew when he saw her sitting there. What was wrong with him?

"You've got to take me back!" Riley exclaimed, his words tumbling over each other in his haste to get them out.

"Why?" asked Buffy, somewhat more coldly than she had intended. She would've thought that Riley would be grateful to be removed from a place where he had been stabbed and pumped full of drugs against his knowledge.

Riley couldn't explain why. Not that he didn't want to. He just couldn't. He wanted to tell Buffy that Adam would come for him, that Buffy would get hurt and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if she was. But the words simply wouldn't form in Riley's mouth.

Riley was never entirely sure whether it was himself or Adam that spoke next. "Just do it, woman!" Riley shouted.

Buffy looked murderous, but she quickly calmed down. After all, Riley had been through a lot recently, and one could easily call him not in his right mind.

So Buffy settled down and explained the plan to him. Riley would've stopped her, or somehow not listened, had he been able to do so, but Adam was in control.

And, in his base, Adam laughed at the foolish plan. It would never work.

~*~

Willow was in the shower when she heard Daniel call out her name in an anxious tone. She had hoped that she'd manage to finish the shower before Daniel woke up. Willow felt that she really needed one.

So Willow sighed, turned off the shower so that her voice wouldn't need to compete with the sound of running water, and called out "I'm in the shower, I'll be just a minute!" and turned the water back on before Daniel could answer.

Which was just as well, given that if Willow had had to wait for Daniel to give an answer, it would've been a long wait. He was too busy blushing at the idea of Willow in the shower. For some reason, he couldn't get the image out of his head.

So Daniel was ludicrously relieved when the doorbell rang. As pleasant as the idea of Willow in the shower was, it was _really_ inappropriate for him to be dwelling on it. He just hoped that whoever it was at the door would be sufficiently distracting.

As it turned out, it was. Jack was back.

~*~

Sam woke up largely because of the pain that was developing in her back. She really hadn't meant to fall asleep in Giles' chair, let alone curl up into a little ball on it. It really wasn't any good for her back to do that.

So Sam got up and stretched, arching her arms back over her head as she curved her spine inward.

In the middle of the stretch, Sam noticed Spike looking at her with a somewhat amused expression on his face and a mug of blood in his hand. Sam flushed slightly as she realised what she must look like, so she quickly stood normally. She could've sworn that, just for a moment, Spike looked disappointed.

Spike, noticing Sam's embarrassment, gestured to the table in front of him on which he had prepared a pot of tea. "Would you like a cup?" he asked solicitously.

Sam, for a brief moment, thought Spike meant something completely different and blushed bright crimson before realizing what he actually meant. Spike raised an eyebrow as he wondered what had made Sam blush so much, then shrugged.

Sam answered after a moment. "No, no thanks. I'm more of a coffee person."

Spike looked at her in mock outrage. "Coffee? You heathen!" he spluttered. Sam laughed.

Then Daniel, Teal'c and Willow walked into the room.

And Jack.

~*~

"Jack." said Daniel, somewhat surprised. It hadn't even crossed his mind that Jack would be coming back.

"Got it in one." said Jack dryly.

"How was your trip?" asked Daniel.

"I'd say that it was long, but that would be passing up a perfect opportunity to say that it was very long. Hi, Teal'c." he said, as Teal'c appeared at Daniel's shoulder.

"Good morning, Colonel O'Neill. I made omelettes." said Teal'c.

"Are you offering some to me or merely stating their existence?" said Jack uncertainly. He could never quite tell with Teal'c.

"I'm offering them to you." said Teal'c, with a nod.

Jack grinned widely. "In that case, I'd love an omelette, T." he said, heading into the kitchen.

"Where's everyone else?" asked Jack as he heaped omelette onto a plate.

"Sam's at Giles', as is Spike. Buffy's at home with Riley, and Willow's in the shower." Daniel supplied, as he too got himself some food. He hadn't realised he was hungry until he'd smelt it, but now he was ravenous.

"How do you know that Willow's in the shower?" Jack asked, careful to keep his tone bland. If he let on to Daniel that he was going to tease him, the archaeologist would clam up and Jack would have no fun.

"She told me." Daniel said innocently.

"I'm surprised at you, Danny." said Jack. This time, he didn't manage to keep all the amusement out of his voice.

Daniel looked at him suspiciously. "Why?"

"I'm surprised you're not there with her." said Jack, then burst out laughing as Daniel spewed omelette clear across the room and did a very creditable impression of a tomato.

~*~

It was about an hour later, after Daniel had caught Jack up on events, Willow had emerged (although she didn't understand why Daniel seemed to be unable to meet her eyes, or why Jack was grinning a grin that would make the Cheshire Cat envious) and they'd all eaten breakfast that the group decided to walk over to Giles' house.

Jack's heart sank into his boots when he heard Sam laughing with Spike, and it was no consolation to him whatsoever that Sam felt pretty much the same when she saw him standing in the room.


	38. Chapter 38

Sam quickly stood up, standing at a vague approximation of attention. She was too surprised to do much else. "Sir! You're back!" she exclaimed, fighting the urge to blush like a school girl.

"Apparently so. Carter, do sit down, will you? You _know_ we're on leave." said Jack, dryly. And with just a hint of bitterness.

Spike quickly appraised the situation, decided that now would definitely not be the time to pick a fight with Sam's superior officer, who just happened to have feelings for her that she seemed to at least partially reciprocate. So Spike decided to diplomatically offer some tea.

Only Willow took a cup. After several years researching with Giles, she'd developed rather a taste for it - besides, it helped her not to freak out about the latest apocalypse. The others, like Sam, preferred coffee.

The somewhat awkward silence stretched out for several seconds, before Jack decided he had had enough of it and if it went on he would be liable to burst. So he walked over to the rather complicated piece of equipment which he assumed was the Tesla coil and asked "So, is this your gadgety thing?"

Given that Sam didn't seem to be up to answering the question, Willow took it upon herself to do so. "That's just part of it - the step-up generator to provide it with enough power. The actual coil is over there" she said, pointing. Jack turned to see something that looked pretty similar to the generator.

Spike couldn't resist it any longer. He had to say something. "You know that we can't actually _do_ anything until tomorrow? So you didn't have to come until then."

Jack wanted to glare at him, but he thought it was probably beneath him. He glared anyway. It seemed like the right thing to do.

Daniel sighed heavily. It looked like it would be a very long day.

~*~

As it turned out, Daniel was right. The day stretched on for so long that it seemed impossible that a single day could have that much time in it.

This was due mainly to the fact that everyone was uncomfortable being around Riley, a situation that was only exacerbated by his obvious reluctance to be around them.

In addition to that, Jack and Spike were insultingly polite to each other, and Sam was so uncomfortable with the situation that she barely spoke.

Furthermore, Giles revealed to Willow that Oz had taken off again, and while she didn't exactly seem put out by the news, it still put her in a pensive and reflective mood for the rest of the day.

Eventually though, after what seemed like several centuries, the day came to a close, and people began to head to their respective sleeping places. The only slight problem was that Spike would've quite liked to stay at Willow's, not only to be with Sam but to annoy Jack. Unfortunately, he didn't have an invitation and he was damned if he was going to ask Willow for one, so he headed over to his crypt. He'd got the television wired up, and what else was he going to do?

~*~

Everyone somehow managed to get some sleep that night (apart from the nocturnal Spike), but they still preferred to get up early and get it over with. After all, with Sunnydale deserted - the demons and vampires had left to chase the humans, and even Joyce was gone, although she knew the real reason she was leaving - there was really no point in wasting time.

However, when it came to actually move the Tesla coil and the step-up generator to Sunnydale Square, the group ran into a problem. Although the machine wasn't all that big, it was surprisingly heavy. Only Buffy and Teal'c working in tandem managed to shift it (Spike couldn't move them around outside, not in daylight) but it would take forever to get them to the Square, and small as the machines were, they still wouldn't fit in anyone's car.

Spike solved the problem by hot wiring an open-ended truck, although he brought Giles along to hold a blanket over him and drive the truck, so that he wouldn't get burnt.

Eventually, Buffy and Teal'c managed to manoeuvre the devices onto the truck, and then they were on their way.

However, there was a more pressing problem. Only Spike would be able to activate the Tesla coil, as he was the only one who wouldn't be killed outright. However, in order to activate the device, he'd have to be standing next to it.

In broad daylight.

It was unlikely that Spike would be able to hold a blanket around him the entire time, especially while he was being electrocuted. So they had to come up with some kind of solution.

Normally, Willow would've offered to summon a cloud or something, but after passing out from overtaxing her magical abilities the previous day, and given that Giles had told her of the inherent danger of weather magic, she thought it would probably be better if she didn't.

It was Xander that came up with a solution. Not that he could tell the group about it right away, because the idea was so funny that he couldn't help but burst into peals of laughter, and when he pulled himself together and tried again, he made the mistake at looking at the blanket-clad Spike and descended into gales of laughter again.

Eventually, he managed to articulate his plan, and when he did the group understood why he had found it so hilarious - they did too. Except for Spike, that is, who looked like he could cheerfully murder something. Or someone. Or several someones. Hopefully one of them being Xander.

Xander's idea was simple. Given that Spike would be fine if he wasn't in direct sunlight, all they had to do was make sure he was wearing something that covered his entire body, and which he didn't have to hold onto. Say, a costume. Xander thought Zorro, with the mask, a hat and gloves would do just fine. Of course, Spike would look like a ponce, but Xander didn't mind that.

It was fairly easy to cobble together the components, and Spike was ready. Of course, given that it wasn't an actual Zorro costume he didn't look quite as poncey as he had feared, although the women's gloves that stretched to the elbow didn't help in the slightest. Spike thought that Adam would die of laughter before he even turned the coil on.

Still, the plan was so close to coming to fruition that it would be stupid to abort merely because Spike looked like an idiot.

So the gang set up the devices, and settled down to wait. Hopefully Adam would show up for Riley.

~*~

Several hours later, after Spike had thrashed everyone at poker (although Xander said that him wearing lady gloves meant he simply couldn't bluff with a straight face) Adam did show up. The gang quickly backed away, out of range of the coil.

Adam stopped just outside the maximum range of the Tesla coil, much to everyone's extreme annoyance. To the gang's surprise, Adam ignored them completely, and instead said to Riley "Coming, Brother? We have much to do."

Riley, against his will, found himself standing up. "Yes, of course. I can hardly wait to get away from these primitives." he spat the final word. Everyone looked at him in horror, but Riley didn't see. Adam had complete control of him now, and even when Buffy seized his arm, Riley didn't stop walking, even though Slayer strength prevented him from moving. Eventually, Buffy gave up and let go. There was nothing she could do.

Riley walked across the courtyard to Adam in silence, his own despair echoed by every one of the Scoobies and SG-1.

However, when Riley was about half way to Adam, things went strange. Firstly, the air rippled around him, and he found himself back behind the Scoobies. Then the same odd rippling effect happened around Adam, and suddenly he was a good few feet further forward.

Within the range of the Tesla coil. Spike flipped the switch to turn it on.

Instantly, Spike's world vanished. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know who he was. He didn't know anything. There was only the pain. It was worse that dying, and Spike had experience with that.

The sensation was gone in a moment, and after another moment Spike's vision cleared, and he could see what was going on. It was spectacular - lightning darting every which way, Adam standing motionless as he tried to absorb the electricity that periodically licked over him.

Then Spike was hit again. And again. In the brief moments of respite, Spike wished he were dead. He wished he were unconscious. He wished it would just stop. But he had to hold on.

Spike didn't notice when Adam exploded, in a storm of body parts and metal. He only knew that something other than electricity had hit him. He hoped that was it. It had better be, because he was going to...

Spike passed out.


	39. Chapter 39

Spike awoke from a dream. Oddly enough, he didn't remember it - vampires rarely dream, but when they do the dreams generally have some meaning behind them, and so they remembered them - but Spike was rather more surprised that he was awake at all. He was pretty sure he hadn't managed to turn off the Tesla coil before he passed out. Which meant he should've been electrocuted until he combusted.

But that obviously hadn't happened. And Spike wasn't going to be able to work out what had happened lying... wherever he was with his eyes shut. He needed to talk to someone and find out what happened.

Spike opened his eyes and tried to get up, and nearly passed out from the pain. He suddenly wasn't all that sure that he hadn't combusted. It would probably be better if he didn't move. Ever again.

When the world stopped spinning, and Spike's ears stopped ringing, and he stopped feeling as though he might vomit - which, given his vampire physiology, was impossible anyway - he managed to open his eyes. He could manage that much, if only by a great effort of will. Spike really didn't want to pass out again without finding out what had happened, although it would probably be better for him if he has time to recuperate.

Still, Spike was exceptionally surprised to find people crowded around... wherever he was. Everyone was there - Sam, the Scoobies, Sam, that alien, Sam, Willow's beau, Sam and that infernal colonel. And Sam. Especially Sam.

At that point, Spike realised that they were trying to talk to him. It took him a while to figure that out, and that was really only because he could see their lips moving (Hmmm, Sam's lips). Spike had a brief moment of panic when he wondered if he had gone deaf (No more Sex Pistols!), but he quickly realised that the ringing in his ears made it impossible to hear them. He hoped it would stop soon. It was really annoying.

Eventually, the group gathered that Spike couldn't understand what they were saying - his lack of response coupled by him staring at their lips with a frown gave it away - Willow dashed off to get him some blood, and some paper to write on so that he could understand what it was that they were saying. Although Willow couldn't help but think that maybe Spike was better off not listening to the babbling on his bedside.

As it was, Willow nearly had a heart attack when she saw Drusilla sitting sprawled in a chair, looking up at the ceiling with a somewhat nostalgic expression on her face. Three things crossed Willow's mind: firstly _How did she get in here? I never invited her in! Oh Goddess, she's going to kill me!_ followed by _Wait, no she won't. I gave her a soul. Which still doesn't explain what she's doing here, or how she got here, but means that she won't kill me. Probably_. Finally, Willow thought _I bet if I followed the line of her sight through the ceiling, it would lead right to where Spike is._

"Hello, Red." said Drusilla absently, without looking at Willow. "It's nice to see you being you. I wasn't sure you would be."

Willow remembered that Drusilla was a psychic. She probably knew all about her recent possession and habitation of Daniel's body. She had probably known about her not being herself before Willow ever had.

Willow said warily "Yes, that's nice. But how did you get in here? This is my house, and I've never invited you in." Willow carefully avoided asking Drusilla what she wanted. Even though the vampire had a soul, she was still crazy and Willow didn't want to antagonize her.

"You still there, love?" Drusilla called.

Suddenly, a handsome, dark haired man in a suit appeared in the doorway. Willow had never seen him before, and he seemed wrong to her, in a way she couldn't quite explain. It was as though he wasn't quite there. "Always, Dru. Where did you think I'd be?" he answered.

"Red, this is Red-and-Black. Or Cole, if you prefer. Occasionally he's Belthazor too. Cole, this is Willow. She's just Red, although the Black might come along later." Drusilla introduced them.

Cole extended a hand, and Willow took in on instinct. She was pretty sure by now that neither of them intended her any harm. However, she regretted it almost as soon as she took it. Willow could feel the hand - it was everything that a hand should be - but at the same time, it wasn't there. She realised that, to her magical senses, Cole was invisible - no, more than that. He simply wasn't there.

Willow prodded her with a finger. "Are you really there?" she asked.

Cole smiled, but didn't answer her. Instead, he said to Drusilla "What are we here for, Dru? You poke me often enough as it is, and I'm reluctant to get prodded by people I don't know."

Drusilla sighed. "Well, Red does have a point. You aren't really there."

Cole crossed his arms, and Willow suddenly felt like it was her, not Cole, that wasn't there, just an invisible spectator to a domestic dispute. "That wasn't the point, and you know it." Willow wondered what they were talking about.

"Fine. Now go away. You know I can't do it with you here." Drusilla snapped. Cole's expression softened, then he wavered like a heat mirage and vanished. Willow suddenly realised that that had been what had happened to Adam and Riley - before that point, she thought that she had unconsciously moved them magically. Now she realised that Cole had.

Willow was about to ask why, when Drusilla, for the first time, looked directly at her and started speaking. "There will be three. If they die by your hand-" then Drusilla's eyes flicked up a good foot or so above Willow's head "- or by yours, then your cause will fail."

Then Drusilla turned and walked out the door. Willow hesitated a moment, to digest what the vampire had told her - when was she going to kill three people? Who had she been talking to when she had looked over her head? - and then went after Drusilla to ask those very questions. Only to find that, in the few seconds that she had been out of Willow's sight, the vampire had managed to vanish.

Willow looked down the hallway for a few moments longer, before shrugging - there were already enough cryptic and complicated things in her life, she didn't have to waste time pondering on this one. So the went upstairs, blood and paper in tow.

~*~

By the time Willow made it upstairs, Spike's hearing had healed enough that he could understand what people were saying so long as they said it slowly and loudly enough, and didn't speak all at once. Something which they hadn't quite managed yet.

Willow decided not to mention the little encounter with Drusilla downstairs - she didn't particularly want to explain that she had ensouled the vampire, or that somehow she had managed to pick up some kind of teleporting person (or demon) that seemingly didn't exist and could pass through defences like they weren't even there. Everyone had a lot on their mind as it was.

Like Spike and Sam, Willow thought as she passed the blood to the vampire in question, who took it gratefully. It was obvious that Spike wanted everyone to leave so that he could talk to her, and Sam didn't exactly seem to be adverse to the idea.

It was just as obvious that Jack could see that too, and he was none too happy about it. Willow remembered overhearing them declare their love to each other on Apophis' flagship. She wondered what they'd said to each other after that.

Still, given that it didn't look like Spike would have a chance to talk to Sam alone any time soon, he drank the blood, wincing because it was animal and because it hurt to swallow, and then fell asleep. After all, even though he had spent the last few hours unconscious, Spike was still injured and extremely tired.

At least, that's what Sam told the group as she ushered them out. Willow was fairly sure that Spike was faking his sleep for exactly that reason - to be alone with Sam - and she was pretty sure that Jack thought so too. Not that either of them did anything about it. Jack had pretty much thrown away any right to protest by agreeing to regulations that he and Sam couldn't be together, and Willow wasn't going to interfere in someone else's love life. Or love unlife, as the case may be. Not when hers was in such a mess.

So they left.

~*~

"Are they gone?" Spike murmured in a cracked voice. Normally he'd be able to tell, but with his faulty hearing he couldn't hear people's heartbeats, and given that it hurt him to breathe, he'd stopped doing that.

"They're gone." Sam confirmed. "How're you doing?" she asked gently.

"Me? I'm alone, in a bedroom, with beautiful woman, and I can't even move without passing out. How do you think I'm doing?" Spike growled.

Sam blushed, but nevertheless found herself saying "Doesn't the first half of that make up for the rest?"

Spike looked at her, expressionless. Eventually, he said "Given that the last time we were alone together I nearly broke your wrist and then almost bit you, no, it doesn't really."

Sam sighed. "You're really hung up on that, aren't you?"

"Aren't you? I nearly killed you, Sam. That not the kind of thing that one gets over." Spike said.

"You know I had a Goa'uld symbiote for a while? A Tok'ra?" Sam asked. Spike nodded, then grimaced at the pain. He wondered where she was going with this.

"She took over my body, subjugated my will. Even though she was a Tok'ra, that was her instinct. But she gave her life to save mine. Which wasn't her instinct. You see, your instinct was to kill me and drink my blood. But you resisted." Sam said, watching Spike intently.

Spike blinked. "I'm not there yet."

Sam leaned across, kissed him on the lips, as softly as a feather. "Let me know when you are." she said in a whisper, before she left.

Oh, how Spike wished he could move!

~*~

Meanwhile, downstairs, Riley and Buffy had split off from the others. Now that Adam was dead, and Riley wasn't crazy, it seemed like now was a good time to have that talk that they'd been putting off. So far, they'd only managed to talk, with Walsh, about Buffy being the Slayer.

"Buffy, Adam was controlling me! I tried to tell you, but I couldn't." Riley blurted out was soon as he could.

Buffy struggled not to look amused. She didn't think it would do Riley any good if he thought she was laughing at him. The truth was, it wasn't his fault, and she'd figured it out when he'd kept walking, like a robot, even when she was stopping him from moving forward. "I guessed that."

"And I'm sorry for nearly shooting Willow, and shooting..." Riley trailed off. Evidently he'd just realized that Spike was the same vampire that he and his group had captured and chipped. Hostile-17. "Why is Hostile-17 helping you? He's a _vampire_!"

Buffy thought for a moment. Other than the obvious reason - Sam - Buffy didn't know why Spike was still around, or why they'd started trusting him - or as much as they could trust a vampire without a soul who probably wouldn't mind if every one of them but Sam were killed. So Buffy settled for shrugging in response, and saying "It's complicated."

Riley sighed noisily. "Everything is complicated."

Buffy smiled sadly. "Welcome to my world." she said, so softly that Riley barely heard her.

"Does it get any less complicated?" Riley asked.

"Not even a little bit." Buffy answered.

"Not even if I joined it?"

Buffy looked up sharply. "What?" she said.

"If I quit the Initiative - it's finished anyway, Adam locked all their files so they don't have a clue what they've done or not done - and joined you." Riley said, smiling shyly.

Buffy didn't stop to think. "I doubt it would make anything less complicated, but I would certainly prefer it."

~*~

Meanwhile, Daniel and Willow were spending the first time alone together since, together, they'd kissed Willow's dead body and then ended up kissing each other. It would probably be for the best if they talked to each other about it, so things wouldn't be awkward between them.

Of course, just the talk itself was awkward.

Willow went first. "So, about that kiss..." she said, but trailed off. She really had no idea what she wanted to say.

Daniel, blushing, said "Yes, it just the heat of the moment, it was-"

"Magical?" Willow interrupted, laughing. She couldn't help herself. Daniel smiled too.

"But it didn't mean anything." said Daniel.

Willow just said "Oh." and felt as though the air had been driven out of her lungs - an experience which she was unfortunately all too familiar with. She hadn't known what to expect, but it certainly hadn't been that.

"Unless you want it to?" said Daniel, tentatively.

Willow took a moment to get her breath back. And a moment more to think about it. And then several more moments, to think about it some more. Eventually, all she managed to come up with was "I don't know, really. I mean, things with Oz didn't work out, and I don't really want to jump into anything, and you're older than me, and I'm babbling." she said, pausing for breath - because, contrary to popular opinion, Willow the Babbler didn't have gills.

"So that's a maybe." said Daniel, blandly. Willow couldn't tell what he thought about things - although the fact that he had suggested that the kiss might mean something seemed to imply that he wouldn't be averse to a relationship. "So, are you going to stay here, or..." he trailed off, not wanting to say "_come with me_"

Willow heard the words he didn't say anyway. "No, I'm coming with you."

~*~

Jack was sitting outside by himself. Anya and Xander had vanished back to Xander's basement, and Giles had returned to his house. He had no idea where Teal'c had gone. Not that Jack minded. It suited his current mood to be by himself.

So Jack was incredibly surprised when he suddenly found himself no longer sitting in the warm Californian sun, but standing on a mountain. A very odd looking mountain. It looked almost as though it was made of glass, when he didn't look at it directly. When he did, it looked like mist. Except when it looked like thick, black smoke, or white steam.

Jack realised he must've dropped off, and that this was a dream. A very strange dream, but a dream nevertheless.

So he wasn't unduly surprised when he heard a familiar female, English voice from behind him. He turned, and saw the vampire who had nearly killed Janet, the one that Caelus had disguised himself as in order to lure them into his trap. What was her name? Drusilla?

Jack didn't know the suited man standing beside her, but this was a dream. Who cared who it was?

"I have a warning for you, Colonel." Drusilla said. Not for the first time, Jack realised.

Jack waved a hand. "Please, this is a dream, call me Jack." he said magnanimously.

The suited man turned to Drusilla and murmured "Are you sure it was wise to bring him here?"

Drusilla answered. "I told you, Cole, this is what I saw, so this is what must happen." Then she said to Jack "This is no dream, Colonel, though you may believe it to be so. I must tell you: when he comes, trust him. He knows what he is talking about."

Jack blinked. He knew it was a dream, but that sounded so meaningless. It wasn't even cryptic, it just didn't mean anything!

"Oh, and don't let the Red One use the Library. Use it yourself." Drusilla added.

Jack found himself back in his chair outside Willow's house. He shook himself. That had certainly been a strange dream.

~*~

Away in the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart, Lilah Morgan tentatively knocked on the door of her boss, Holland Manners. Several days ago, he had asked her to find everything she could about anyone who had the magical capacity and the inclination to give Drusilla a soul and then teleport her to LA.

Holland looked up. "Ah, Morgan! Have you found anything yet?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. During Drusilla's life, she tended to avoid magic users - I can't find any record of her dealing with one when she was with the Whirlwind, or when she and Spike split off from Angel and Darla.

Until Prague, when Drusilla was critically injured. Then Spike took her to the most powerful magic users in Europe, all of which couldn't do anything to help her.

Then, in Italy, he met with a warlock who told him about a nearby temple with healing properties. Apparently, it didn't work because Spike came back and left parts of the warlock all over the town.

After that, Spike took her to the Hellmouth, hoping that that might cure her. During his stay there, he met with three people with any magical talent - the first, one Rupert Giles, Watcher, didn't have the power to perform the spell. The second, Ethan Rayne, is a chaos Mage and so wouldn't have wanted to. The third was a teenager, Willow Rosenberg, who not only has the power but already performed an ensouling spell, on Angelus." Lilah finished.

Holland digested it for a moment then said "Thank you, Morgan. That will be all. Lilah briefly looked disappointed that that was it - she'd hoped to be included in bringing the witch in, and getting an edge over Lindsey - but she left anyway.

The truth was, Holland had more information on Willow than Lilah did, thanks to his spy in the SGC. He knew that he didn't have to spend any effort bringing her in.

She'd come to them.


End file.
